Equipment
Checklist:
September 17, 2012 update:
I am entering into a “partial” retirement, so most of the equipment
listed here will be sold. The prices will be fair because I want to sell it fast
rather than holding out for the best offer, but keep in mind that most of this
equipment is highest quality for professional use, so it will be priced
accordingly. If you are interested in anything, email me at tsmerk@sdccd.edu and I’ll be happy to answer
questions or arrange for you to look at the equipment.
September 1, 2012 update:
New equipment added: Yamaha Pacifica EG-112 “Strat
HSS” electric guitar, another Shure Beta 58 microphone, a great sounding RMS 912FTW
12 inch 150 watt monitor / flying PA speaker, Sansui 2 way SS-20 8 ohm
headphones (with both volume and tone controls!), Olson dynamic stereo
headphones (cool vintage vibe!), homemade 9V battery practice amp in small Epiphone cabinet, assorted microphone stands.
April 3, 2009 update:
I left all of the information below as sort of a
"historical" reference, but a lot has changed since I originally
created this page.
On October 21, 2007, my house, my studio, and
all my equipment and possessions were destroyed by the "Harris" fire
during one of the worst firestorms in California history. Everything described
below is gone except for 3 items, which I had with me in my car at the time of
the fire: My Carvin AE-185 guitar, my Shure Beta-58
microphone, and my Jay Turser vintage-style Classic
25-RC guitar amp.
Since then, I have purchased the following
equipment so I can get back to work:
- Dan Altilio
handmade steel-string acoustic-electric thinline
guitar
- Dan Altilio
handmade nylon-string acoustic-electric thinline
guitar
- Martin D-42 K-2 all Koa
guitar with Fishman Ellipse Blend pickup system
- Heritage Golden Eagle
carved top jazz guitar
- Sunlite
GW-2400GCP electric/acoustic bass with Shadow pickup
- Epiphone
Power Bass electric solid-body P-J bass
- 1966 Epiphone
Riviera thinline electric guitar
- Stagg SW205-12N
12-string acoustic guitar
- 1974 Garcia Grade #3
classical guitar
- Deering
Goodtime 2 5-string banjo
- Robertson and Sons, Inc.
handmade 4/4 violin
- Caravelle
BBb tuba
- Blessing Bb trumpet
- Yamaha PSR-S900 arranging
keyboard
- Groove Percussion
5-piece drum set
- 2 Stagg bongos
- 1967 Fender
"Blackface" Twin Reverb amplifier
- Music Man RD-50 guitar
amp with Electro-Voice 12-L speaker
- Ampeg
BA-115 bass amplifier
- Fishman Loudbox Mini Acoustic Guitar Amplifier
- Fender Passport Deluxe
PD-500 PA system
- Presonus
Firestudio 26X26 firewire
digital mixer
- BOSS BR-600 Digital
Recorder
- Cubase LE, Audacity and
Band-In-A-Box software
- Toshiba Satellite Notebok computer
- Audio-Technica 3035 studio condenser microphone
- Two Shure Beta-58 vocal
microphones
- Shure SM7 dynamic
broadcast microphone
- Sennheiser
e609 instrument microphone
- ART Tube MP Studio Mic Preamp
- Roland U-220 sound
module
- Bose QuietComfort
3 headphones
- Sharper Image Noise
Cancelling Headphones
- L.R. Baggs
Gigpro Universal guitar preamp
For the time being, the "Audio Barn"
recording studio will occupy bedroom #3 in the new house until I can afford to
have a separate building constructed. Because all of my MIDI backing tracks were destroyed in the fire, I am no longer performing as a
single entertainer for dances. I am, however, available to perform folk &
blues music as an acoustic act, and am also available to play with other bands,
any style of music.
As always, thanks for your interest in my
career!
Here are some photos of my new equipment for
those of your who enjoy learning about amps and
guitars:
Here are the guitars I am currently using:
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Dan Altilio handmade steel-string
acoustic-electric |
Dan Altilio handmade nylon-string
acoustic-electric |
Carvin AE-185 acoustic-electric |
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Martin D-42 K2 all koa acoustic guitar with
Fishman preamp system |
Closeup of the flamed Hawaiian koa wood top |
Heritage Golden Eagle acoustic-electric “jazz”
guitar |
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1967 Epiphone Riviera guitar with Seymour
Duncan pickups and stop tailpiece |
Sunlite GW-2400GCP electric/acoustic bass with
Shadow pickup |
1974 Garcia Grade #3 nylon string classical
guitar |
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Epiphone Power Bass electric solid-body P-J bass |
Stagg SW205-12N 12-string acoustic guitar |
2000 Robertson and Sons 4/4 Handmade Violin |
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Caravelle BBb Tuba |
Blessing
Trumpet |
Groove
Percussion 5-piece |
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Deering
Goodtime 2 |
Yamaha Electronic
MIDI Keyboard |
Story
& Clark Console Piano |
And here are some pictures of my guitar amps:
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1967 Fender Twin Reverb |
1980’s Music Man RD-50 with EV speaker |
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Jay Turser Classic
25-RC |
Top view of the Jay Turser amp |
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Ampeg BA-115 bass amplifier |
Fishman Loudbox Mini
Acoustic Guitar Amplifier |
June 2006 update (None of the following
information is accurate because the fire destroyed all of the equipment
mentioned. I am leaving the information on the page as a "historic"
overview):
You'll notice below that in March 1966 I was
playing a Silvertone guitar and amplifier. I kept the amplifier until May and
traded the guitar in November of that same year. Last week I had the pleasure
of purchasing the exact same model guitar (Silvertone 1478L 2-pickup
"Jaguar") and amplifier (Silvertone 1482 15-watt 1X12") as a
"set" from a local (San Diego) collector. Talk about a trip back to
the past! I owe a debt of thanks to Robert who realized that I was not looking
for such equipment at the time, so I was financially not in a good position to
be buying more equipment. He made me a deal that was quite fair, and I have
been happy ever since with both pieces of equipment. When I used the amp in
1966, it wasn't loud enough to use in a combo, but since then it has gained a
reputation as a "blues" amp because of the warm distortion it gives
when cranked up. I still wouldn't use it on a gig, but I might use it on a
recording some day if I need a nice fat blues sound. The guitar turned out to
be better than I remembered it to be, and I would have no reservations about using
this guitar on a gig. I played some `60's songs and some surf music at a
rehearsal this week, and it has the perfect tone for that type of music. I will
probably take this to a few gigs as a backup guitar and try to play it once in
awhile for sentimental value.
From the beginning . . .
My first guitar was a second-hand Stella
acoustic. My dad paid $15 for this back in 1963 or 1964. When I was ready to
play in bands in 1965, we bought one of the Sears (Danelectro) Silvertone
guitars that had the amplifier built into the case - the one pickup black
sparkle one! This seems to have been the first electric guitar for a lot of
famous guitarists. Shortly after that (March 1966), I graduated into a nice
2-pickup Sears (Harmony) Silvertone "Jaguar" style guitar and a
15-watt amp. As my playing improved, I moved up to a new Fender Pro-Reverb
amplifier in May 1966 and traded the guitar on a Gretsch Chet Atkins Tennessean
in November 1966. This is the guitar I used until 1972, when I bought a Gibson
ES-345TDC stereo guitar. The Gibson was my main guitar through the `70's until
I bought a new Fender Telecaster in 1979. I used the Telecaster all through the
`80's and `90's. At one point, I had a 1958 Gibson L5-CES stereo with PAF
humbucking pickups and the original case. I sold that for $1500 one day when
our family really needed the money. What a fool I was - that guitar today is
worth $25,000!
During the late `60's and throughout the `70's,
I used dozens of amplifiers, such as Fenders (Bandmaster, Super reverb, Twin
Reverb, Dual Showman, Super Showman, Vibrolux reverb, etc.), Kustom, Sunn and a
few others. Then I swapped an old Gibson 55 amp for a Norlin Lab L9 in 1979,
and I loved that amp so much I used it all through the `80's and `90's.
Somewhere around 1999 or 2000, I picked up a used Yamaha G100-112 (100 watt
solid state amp with a HD 12" speaker). I've wanted one of these since I
used to sell them in the early 1980's at Thearle Music. Then I bought a new
Fender Twin Reverb "1965 reissue" in 2003. This has to be the best
amp in the world! But something even better was around the corner. In 2004, I
visited with Joe, the guy I sold my Fender Pro-Reverb amp to back in 1968. I
asked about it, and he said it was stored in his attic, no longer working. He
gave it to me. I spent $750 or $800 to get it playing the way I wanted, and now
I am reunited with my first "good" amp! I recorded "Vandrell
Stomp" with the Vandrells way back in 1966 using this amp, so I thought it
would be fun to re-release that tune, so I just re-recorded "Vandrell
Stomp" on my new CD. I used the same amp to record the song that I did on
the original recording almost 40 years ago! I also have a Silvertone 100 watt
2X12" solid-state amp from around 1966 that I picked up along the way.
Most of my amps are now for sale - let me know if you are looking for a good
amp!
Over the years, I have used a lot of different
guitars such as those I just mentioned, plus a Gibson L7C, Fender
Stratocasters, Gretsch Anniversary, a Rickenbacker 340, a Fender Telecaster
Custom, a Fender Telecaster thinline, a Fender Electric 12-string, a Hofner 175
solid body, a Tune electric bass, and several Ibanez and Epiphone guitars.
I currently play on a Martin 000-28EC (Eric
Clapton Signature Model) acoustic with a Fishman Acoustic Matrix I pickup, a
Carvin AE185 acoustic-electric with Alan Holdsworth pickups (it's like a
light-weight hollow-body Telecaster), Hofner New President arch-top electric
acoustic (jazz guitar), a vintage Harmony H78 electric with 3 D'Armond pickups
(this guitar has some awesome tone!), an Epiphone Emperor Joe Pass model (jazz
guitar), a Seagull acoustic 12-string acoustic, an Ibanez AS-50 thinline
electric (like a Gibson ES-335), a Martin Sigma DT-22 dreadnaught, and my 1978
Fender Telecaster, which I still use occasionally for recording blues or
country. I have a nice Les Paul solid body guitar. It is not a Gibson, I built
it myself from parts. The body and neck are probably vintage "lawsuit
era" Aria or similar, it has special-order Seymour Duncan split-coil (parallel
or series) humbucking pickups. All hardware is genuine Gibson except the tuning
keys which are Grover Imperial. It has a coil parallel-serial selector switch
for each pickup, one volume and one tone control. The case is a genuine Gibson
Victoria hard case. This instrument is for sale. I also have an old 1970 Yamaha
FG-150 acoustic guitar that I played in college, an Art & Lutherie
"Ami" parlor guitar, a nylon string M. Horabe Model 40 classical
guitar with a Shadow bridge saddle pickup, and a Tune electric bass, which is a
high-end Japanese instrument with active electronics that was built to compete
with Alembic.
My current amplifier selection includes my 1966
Fender Pro Reverb (the one I bought new in May 1966), the "1965
Reissue" Fender Twin Reverb, a Fender Blues Deluxe "tweed" amp,
the Norlin Lab L9, the Yamaha G100-112, and a Jay Turser vintage-style Classic
25-RC practice & recording amp. For bass, I use a Behringer Ultrabass
BX1200.
My vocal microphone is a Shure Beta-58, and I
mike the guitar amp with a Shure SM-57. My basic sound system consists of a
Carvin PA-1200 12-channel mixer with 3 self-contained 333 watt amps, 2
Cetec-Gauss 15" speaker cabinets with Acoustic horns, and a Carvin
12" monitor, and a Roland M-GS64 Sound Expander synthesizer sound module
connected to a Compaq computer by a Key MIDI interface. The microphone plugs in
to a Digitech Vocalist VHM5 Vocalist harmonizer to split the vocal signal into
2 and 3 part harmonies.
The pedal effects I use are an Ernie Ball volume
pedal, a Pro-Co Rat distortion, Digitech digital delay, Danelectro "Tuna
Melt" tremolo, KMD chorus and a KMD phase shifter. I sometimes use an
Ibanez Graphic EQ or a Boss Octave Splitter. The effects, are mounted to a
pedal board.
My studio also includes a 5-piece drum set and
two Yamaha keyboards, plus recording equipment, a stereo system, and a
microwave and refrigerator!
If you took the time to read all this, then you
must be a musician! I wanted to elaborate a little because I think equipment
decisions affect the overall sound. While I definitely agree that an
experienced musician can coax good music out of even the worst equipment, I
have noticed that I can get a sound closer to what I am looking for by changing
a guitar or an amp. I usually take 3 or 4 guitars with me on a gig. To get a
good jazz sound, I grab a big-bodied jazz arch-top. For blues and rock, I like
my Carvin, for folk and country swing I play the Martin, and the old 1966
Harmony is a great rock-a-billy guitar. Turning to amplifiers, the new Fender
Twin-Reverb is super clean and super loud, but the 1966 Fender Pro-Reverb or my
40 watt tweed Fender Blues Deluxe has a warmer tone. Even if this all sounds
like a bit too much (and perhaps it is), I must admit I like to collect guitars
and amps. If you know of any for sale that I might be interested in. please let
me know. Thanks!
"What would you like to do next?"
Copyright © 1996-2013 by Thomas M. Smerk