Things Are Broken Already

mike_barry.jpgWe are on the 2nd night of Winter Jam and things have already died. Last night in Johnson City rocked so hard, and the crowd was so amazing that we had a few pedals break, and some guitars broke too. So today Mike and I are working on getting everything repaired so that we can give just as good of an effort tonight in Chattanooga as we did last night.

It’s getting close to dinner so I better get back to work.

-Barry

Posted in Barry on January 11, 2008 by

MercyMe

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  • http://arewestillcool.blogspot.com cool dad

    What pedals are broken? I’d love to hear what’s reliable and what’s not so.

  • admin

    The pedal in question is a custom made pedal by everyone’s favorite guitar slinger….our very own Barry Graul. He yanked the guts out of a Vox Wah Wah and crammed them into some old dead voodoo labs pedal he had making me a Wah in a Box. It’s great for solos and getting that filtered sound, and it fits better on a pedal board!!!

    The pedal I’ve found the least reliable in my touring days has been the Line 6 DL4 delay. I’ve gone through 3 of them. My fav. Pedals are are my Cusack Screamer, and Screamer Fuzz (www.cusackmusic.com) and my new TC Electronics Nova Delay….this thing sounds AMAZING!!!!!

    Hope this helps in your tone quest!!!!

    Mike

  • http://arewestillcool.blogspot.com cool dad

    Thanks Mike! I’ve recorded with the DL4, but it was the studio’s. As much as I’ve been tempted, I’ve stayed away from buying one. The Boss DD-20 is serving me well these days and I have no worries about its reliability.

    The Nova Delay looks fun, but I can’t justify splurging for it. Had not heard of Cusack before – looks cool.

    I’m enjoying my new Fulldrive II running through a Limited Ed. Tweed Blues Jr. Very sweet. Now that I’ve downgraded from a 4×10, I’ve been able to crank the amp much more.

    The most curious pedal I have a 4ms Phaseur Fleur. It’s not employed right now, but I think it will be soon.

    I could talk a lot more about guitar stuff, but I don’t know if this is the place for it…

  • http://www.liambyrnes.co.uk Liam Byrnes

    Hey guys, it would be great to see your setup, pedal boards, guitars and amps, just so all us guitar geeks could check out your tone!

  • admin

    Hey Liam,
    Thanks for the post. We are in the process of revamping our website that will be up soon (mercyme.org). It will have a gear section under our individual names of which we will put up current gear pics, so be sure and check that out. I’ll be happy to answer whatever gear info I can here on our blog so ask away.

    I use mostly old guitars. I’m not really married to any one guitar in particular since each one has its own character but if I had to choose a favorite I’d pick my 77 Gibson Les Paul. Sometimes I’ll get on a Fender kick and play Fenders for a while or just Gibsons, but it’s the beauty of their individuality that makes each one stand alone.

    I have a bunch of amps and it’s really hard to figure out which ones I want to take on tour with me since I love them all. A good problem to have I guess. I just bought a Gabriel which is an amazing amp and can’t believe I waited this long to get one. Some of my other amps include a 78 Marshall JMP 100 watt, “65″ Fender Bassman, 50 watt Zinky, 60′s Silvertone, a late 60′s 80 watt Orange 2×12 combo, and an Egnater. As far as speakers these days I’m enjoying playing through vintage 30′s but for years I’ve been a 25 watt greenback guy. Ahhhh…decisions decisions.

    Some of my pedals include Moolon overdrive, Red Witch phaser, Boss tuner, Boss DD5 delay ( soon to be knocked out by a new T.C. Electronics Nova delay) Mike has one and it’s incredible. Zvex box of rock, a Blackstone Appliance overdrive, Keeley compressors and always a Vox wah wah just to name a few.

    We’re only playing 40 minutes on this tour so I’m using My Gabriel amp through a Zinky cabinet with a pedal board. Usually I use my Bob Bradshaw midi switching system on tours where we are playing longer. I just wanted to keep it simple this tour.
    Thats about it. If you want to get more specific I love to talk about gear so don’t hesitate to ask.
    Peace,
    Barry

  • admin

    that sounds like a great idea!!! I’ll try and rally the troops and see if I can’t get the other fellas to pitch in on a MM gear blog….or Glog…I like the sound of that!!!
    cooldad…I too have a DD20, but have always prefered the sounds of the Line 6, it just stinks as far as reliability. The TC Nova Delay has some of the best sounding delays of any pedal I’ve played and gives you TONS of control over the sound. The Cusack pedals are unbelievable. I haven’t been able to find a better sounding overdrive pedal in my 17 year guitar playing career. The only thing I’ve played that’s close would be the Moolon Overdrive, but the Cusack is half the price…great pedals!!!
    ok…off to go play Winter Jam in Orlando!!!!

    mike

  • admin

    My guitar rig is ever changing as well, but my current set up is probably my most simple. In the past I’ve had as many pedals as I could fit onto my board, which is a BIG board, however with all the flying we’ve done in the last summer, I tried to be smaller and lighter for the sake of having to tote through airports and check it in without having to pay overage charges. The best way I’ve found to do this is to get the middle sized PedalTrain pedal board and load it with anything you can fit on there!!! For me it’s been, (signal chain from input to output,) Keeley Compressor, Cusack Screamer overdrive, Cusack Screamer Fuzz, Ernie Ball Jr. Volume pedal, (tuner out to Boss TU-2 Tuner,) Loco Box Cosmo Chorus,( great leslie effect,) Graul Wah? (see broken pedal blog,) TC Electronics Nova Delay, EH Holy Grail Reverb, Little Lehle A/B, into my Gabriel Voxer 18…(I LOVE THIS AMP!!!!!!!! http://www.gabtone.com) My guitars on the current Winter Jam tour are, ’52 Tele reissue, Supro Dual Tone,
    (AMAZING guitar!) Tele that I had customized by a friend here in Dallas. He loaded it with a Bigsby and also a DiMarzio PAF in the Bridge and a Seymour Duncan Classic ’59 in the Neck. Other favorite amps/pedal/guitars would be my ’66 Vox AC30, my ’76 Marshall 100watter, Orange Tiny Terror, My Zinky “Red Velvet”…( this is a ROCKER!!!) My Gabriel 1×10″ combo. More than half of my guitar parts on All That Is Within Me are from that little amp…it’s amazing!!!!
    Guitars are the ones already listed and also my ’72 Gold Top deluxe, Gibson 135, 66′ Epiphone acoustic, My 2 McPherson’s. The McPherson’s are hands down the BEST sounding live acoustics I’ve ever played or heard.

    I’ll try and get some pictures up this next week.

    mike

  • Randy Megathlin

    The guitar info is quite interesting. Why don’t you guys just use some modeling processors like the Line 6 Pod XT live or Digitech RP-350? It would seem easier.

    Thanks!

  • Randy Megathlin

    Did you guys use a real Leslie effect on Goodbye Ordinary? or is that a pedal? Sounds awesome!