John's guitar rig wish list

Now that my guitar situation is under control, it's time to dream about my ideal guitar rig. What I have is great for what I do and what I plan to do - record - but sometimes it's nice to imagine what I'd have if I played with other people in a band setting, whether it's full-on gigging or just garage jamming.

Disclaimer: This is only a "what-if" scenario. It is no way indicative of me wanting to spend money on anything. What I have works great for me now. This list is what I'd get if I had to play a gig tomorrow.

Now that that's out of the way, here's John's dream rig.

Amplifier: Fender Hot Rod Deluxe III. Sure, I'd love a 100 watt Marshall stack, but I'm being realistic here. I'm not going to play Madison Square Garden. This is a perfect amp for practice or small gigs. What I love about it is the clean channel. There's no better clean than a Fender clean, and the Hot Rod Deluxe has it in spades. The best thing about a good clean channel is that it takes pedals well, which is important because the distortion on the Fender is very much a bluesy overdrive. To get a good hard rock/metal tone you need to put pedals in front of it. This is why the Hot Rod Deluxe gets the nod in my dream rig - I can get all the metal distortion I need with pedals plus I can get bluesy overdrive with the amp itself. Best of both worlds. Now it's time for the pedals.

Distortion: Boss DS-1 and ST-2 Power Stack. With these two pedals, I can get pretty much any distortion I want. The DS-1 is a classic pedal and should suit most of my needs, but in those times when I need a little more, the Power Stack will do just fine.

Tuner: Boss TU-2. The gold standard of tuners, in my opinion. Nothing else to say here.

Delay: Boss DD-3. Simple, straightforward delay. There are more advanced ones on the market, but this is all I need.

Chorus: Boss CE-2. Seeing a pattern here? Every time I research pedals, Boss is at or near the top, especially a few, the CE-2 chorus being one of them (the DS-1 and DD-3 are the others).

Flanger: Boss BF-2. See above.

Compression: Boss CS-2. See above, again.

Wah: Already have it - my Dunlop Wah/Volume. Great pedal, just never had the right rig for it. I like that it's a combo so I don't need a separate volume pedal. Keeps the board nice and simple.

So there you have it. I don't see me needing anything else. I've learned a few things fiddling around with my DigiTech RP90, mostly what effects I like and what effects I don't like. Whenever I build my own preset, I end up with the same effects every time. I don't need a whammy or tremolo, and unless the amp reverb isn't good enough I don't need one of those, either. I could get any sound I want with what's in this list. If I were a gigging musician, this is what I'd have.

But for now, it's time to get back to the RP to create some more presets.