Vinny's Gear Main axe: Yamaha AEX 1500 The AEX 1500 offers a whole new concept in a jazz style arch-tops. It has the ability to get a crisp acoustic sound and a warm hum bucker type sound. The acoustic sound comes from the piezo pickup mounted in the bridge. The hum bucker sound comes from the floating Johnny Smith style mini hum bucker. By combining these two pickups you can create a very interesting sound. The neck has a great feel; so it is easy to get around. Check out the sound of the AEX on my records, "Live at the Café Japone," and "Center Place." http://www.yamahaguitars.com Main Amp: Yamaha DG 80 and Yamaha DG 60 FX If you haven't checked out these amps you'll be amazed. Yamaha has crammed an incredible amount of power into a small digital amp. Basically, with Electronic Circuit Modeling you have the warms of a tube amp and the consistency and programmability of a solid-state amp. The amp is completely programmable with motorized knobs and 128 presets. When you get to the gig, you just recall the patch and you'll be dialed in. This amp is upgradeable via downloads from Yamaha's website so it won't be obsolete any time soon. Strings: D'Addario For the AEX 1500 I use Chromes with a 13 gauge for the high E string. For a flatwound string the Chromes have a bright sound, great intonation and are incredibly consistent. For my acoustic guitar I use medium gauge Phosphor Bronze. As with the Chrome and all of D'Addario's strings they sound great, have good intonation, and last a long time. For recording I use the Flat Top strings. For my nylon string guitar I use Pro Arte lp Composites. This is a great all around string for a nylon string guitar. You get the same kind of big bright sound but a lot less string noise. For my solid body Yamaha telecaster style Pacifica I use 11 gauge XL's. I play the Yamaha G 50 guitar midi converter with this guitar and the XL's are perfect for fast tracking and big sound. Check out www.daddario.com for the best strings made. CAD microphones I use these mics because they sound incredible. I was first turned on to CAD mics through the great keyboardist, Ronny Foster. He recommended a few specific mics to me and I bought a pair of them and have been using them ever since. Besides the fact that they sound great you won't have to start robbing banks to pay for them. Check out their web site to find the mics that work for you and you'll be amazed at the prices. If you have particular applications you need a good mic for let me know and I can recommend something. www.cadmics.com Cakewalk Pro Audio Cakewalk Pro Audio is an extremely powerful sequencing and audio editing program. I have been using Cakewalk since my first recording and still have Cakewalk 4.0 on my old laptop computer. I use Sonar on my main desktop computer. You can record hundreds of 24 bit, digital audio tracks and even more midi tracks on the same sequence. Sequencing new arrangements and compositions can be done quickly and easily with this program. It's a great pro end audio and midi workstation for recording editing and mixing CD's demos as well as full production film scores. I recorded my latest CD using Pro Audio 9.0 and the Yamaha DSP factory sound card. You can download and try out a demo of the program on the Cakewalk's home page. www.cakewalk.com Planet Wave I recently started using Planet Wave cables. I use both the guitar and mic cables for live and in studio stuff. I have tried many cables over the years and this is the first time I can say that there is a noticeable difference in the sound clarity. They key is a compression spring plug that makes a far superior connection, holding the jack in place more securely, and keep a constant signal. www.planet-waves.com/home Terra Tec Logo I get more questions about my guitar synth gear than anything else. I have been using a guitar synthesizer since the early 80s. As with most electronic gear they keep improving. I am now using the best of the best. The Axon Ax 100 producer by Terratec. www.terratec.com. What makes this the best is the technology that goes into it. Having played so many other guitar synths this simply tracks better and is more personable than anything else on the market. The AX 100 MK II is a single space rack with its own internal sounds and a midi output in case you want to use an external tone generator. If you haven’t played a guitar synth in years or you are using something else check out the Axon. You’ll see what I mean. www.terratec.com Bag End Speakers The core of my rig is a pair of Bag End TA 12 Juniors. The TA stands for time aligned. This means you hear the highs and the lows together. The speakers sound so good that any old power amp will do. http://www.bagend.com/ Picks: Fender I use extra heavy tear drops. Fender has a special way of polishing the edges of the pick that give it a nice warm tone. I've tried many picks over the years and have always gone back to Fenders. © Vinny Valentino; 1998-2005 All rights reserved. Comments and questions: vinny@vinny.com Created by Adele@DigiSys, Inc.