I play all instruments in the studio when recording. I have used many instruments, but I play primarily the same instruments. What I own is listed as follows:
Guitars
- Alvarez acoustic. This is a solid wood with a thin finish. It presents an extremely bright tone, and sounds amazing on record. Note the song Plastic Portrait from The Quiet Sessions EP. This is probably the best acoustic guitar tone that I have ever gotten.
- I primarily play Elixer Strings. I'm a huge fan of the polyweb style because I play pretty hard.
- Schecter Diamond Series guitar: This beauty is a ruby red with gold hardware. Seymour Duncan pickups for a rough and rigid sound, as noted on the song Terrible Love from The Other Day. This guitar sounds so good through just about any amp or cabinet.
- For this guitar, I mainly use GHS Boomers as my strings of choice. I have always been a hard guitar player. These strings have always held up for me.
- Fender Mandolin: This little guy has made two appearances on my albums. I play it on Plastic Portrait from The Quiet Sessions EP, and on Avondale from The Other Day. I have also played it live twice with Josh Woodward on his song Cherry (click to hear the mp3).
- I tend to use D'Addario strings for the mandolin. They seem to come out the brightest. I do not use my mandolin often, but when I do, these strings seem to sound the best.
Basses
- I have used many basses, but I have found that for my type of music, a Fender Jazz Bass suits best, as is the case for most rock music. I used a Warwick for The Quiet Sessions EP.
Drums
- I have primarily been a drummer my whole life (going on 20 years soon) and have recorded many drum tracks over the last 10 years or so. On almost every single song that I have recorded drums for (and dude, there are a ton), I have used a Yamaha Custom DP Stage Series drum kit with the exception the Angels & Skeletons album with Radiofix, in which case I used a DW Stage Performance kit.
- I prefer Sabian cymbals. My usual setup includes two 18" crash cymbals, 14" high hats, a 20" dark ride, a 16" Wuhan China, and a few HHX and AAX splashes which vary in size.
- I use Vic Firth drum sticks.
- Aquarian Super Kick II bass drum heads. I'm a powerful drummer, so I need thick drum heads.
- I have always favored Evans drum heads because of their "dead" tone. I've played live so many times and have learned that tuning the heads to a super low key, and or "dead" brings the tone out so much better for an extra kick in the drum mix. As of late, however, I have been enjoying Remo heads. I used them on the Angels & Skeletons album with Radiofix. I began playing around with higher drum tones and different keys in which I tuned them to.
- Finally, I have always liked both DW hardware and Yamaha hardware. I've liked some things made by Gibraltar, but never loved them. I think my next drum investment will be a full on DW kit with all DW hardware.
Cabinets
- I currently play through a Crate cabinet and head. Normally I would prefer anything Marshall or Mesa Boogie, but this cab just sounds sooo good! It contains four 10" Celestian speakers, and although the head is solid state, it still comes out rigid and strong. Note all non-acoustic guitar tracks on The Other Day. You will more than likely see me use this setup live.
Pedals
- I currently only use two pedals in my live setup, but plan on expanding them greatly. I use a BOSS delay and stomp box tuner. These pedals have served me greatly for quite a while, and I also used the delay pedal on Avondale from The Other Day. You'll more than likely see me using these live too.
Albums & Free Downloads 