So to discuss what I use to create music is kind of a gigantic task. For starters, I'm a rampant tinkerer, so I'm always messing with different DAWs, Plugins, Software Instruments, Synths, Guitars, Basses, Pedals, and even my own home-made electronics (which you'll find all over the site).

Guitar& Basses - Probably 'I'm best known for being a guitarist, and being a pretty insane non-famous, non-rich guitar collector. However, my "collecting" philosophy is a lot like Billy Squier in that I collect them to PLAY them, but unlike Billy, I build them myself, so getting excessive in the guitar department is pretty easy to do when you've been a shadetree luthier for about 25+ years. Most of the guitars I have don't even breech the $400 mark. For a Complete List of Guitars click Here - trust me, it gets pretty nuts. I also have build logs and other technical details in the "Gear Tech" section.

Amplification - As of July 2025, my live/home/studio rig is in a major state of flux. The Bugera 333XL finally bit the dust. I might attempt to fix it before reselling, but I'm not 100% sure. Basically ,it no longer has Distortion channels on it, instead it has "120Hz Hum Channels" now. This change has affected the state of how I do things in 2025, and here's why....

That's right, just bought a friggin BOSS Katana-Head mkII. For less than $300 - about what it'd cost to repair the Bugera professionally. No more tubes, less pedals (has compressor, delay, reverb, fuzz, pitch shift, harmonizer, chorus, flanger, phaser, EQ, synth, and a bunch of other stuff built in), the amp has a 5" speaker built into it, and it runs at 0.5 watts, 50 watts, and 100 watts, so no more cranky soundmen, and it sounds killer through my 1987 Peavey 412M 4x12 Cabinet....and rips as loud as the Bugera on 3 - at 3. I figured, if amp modeling is working out for famous touring musicians (Paul Dean uses a Neural Quad Cortex, and I remember reading STYX and Metallica too are using modeling, and Elliot Easton has been showing a couple of these things too for the last 15 years as well), then why can't it work for a local guy like me. After all, I've been using digital guitar/amp/effects technology for over 20 years now and am somewhat of a disputable master at it. This is now my home recording, practice, and live amp. So now I can REALLY cut down on equipment.

I know, I know, there are snobs out there that are like: "Buuuuuut it'sn not TUBE! It doesn't have TUBES MAN! and It's Japanese, Small, has comprooters in it!" - yeah, but they are usually also the same people that think in 2025 we'll end up touring like Led Zeppelin with a Private Jet if we just keep playing and somehow summon up Rodney Bingenheimer from 1978 to sign us to Polydor. Guys, time to get with the times. This is 2025. Technology has come forward, it's time we guitarists move WITH it. I'm long since been over the whole "Accumulate gear because it's fun to explore" phase and am now in the "I just want to frickin' play and not have to bother with a whole bunch of crap" phase. Betcha if I slapped this Katana in a Marshall Plexi enclosure, you'd not say shit until you saw the back.

So right now, I'm going through my effects pedals and seeing what the Katana can replace, and seeing what I really need. Right now I'm down to 5 pedals - my two home-built Fuzz Pedals (FazzFuzz, SkullFuzz), my BOSS TU-2 Tuner (as the Katana doesn't have a built in tuner), my EHX PitchFork because the Katana is too digital for my needs (needs to sound at least 85% natural-guitar-ish), and my DigiTech XFlange as it's the only pedal I've been able to find to pull off that woofy-flanger sound found in early 80's Canadian Rock stuff (source was a Loft 450 rackmount "Delay-Line Flanger" which Paul Dean of Loverboy and Alex Lifeson of Rush used). My PH9, Small Clone, DD7, Crybaby Wah, and noise gate all have been replaced by the Katana's built-in stuff. I'm just working out my MIDI Setup and what footboard I'd prefer and if I want built-in expression pedals, or a smaller board with BOSS or some other third party expression pedal to replace the Wah Pedal with.

I also own an iMac and use GarageBand on it periodically. For that I just use the built-in virtual instruments and Drummer. It's an easier setup, and plays really well in stereo with the Katana, but I don't want to restrict myself to only using a Mac to Record with.