well hello friends and welcome to ask
0:48
Zach this is an extra special off the
0:52
floor episode so uh
0:55
I just came back from a last minute uh
0:59
set of shows in uh in Oklahoma
1:03
and so before I
1:06
put away all my gear I kind of wanted to
1:09
show you what my kind of gear Essentials
1:12
are that you might find an interest to
1:14
the things that I take
1:16
that I think are must haves so all the
1:20
different
1:21
bits and pieces so that's going to be
1:24
our Focus for today's episode I'm going
1:27
to tell a little story about uh getting
1:30
home from out of the country and all of
1:32
a sudden being flooded with uh text and
1:34
such and having a ask to uh go play play
1:39
some shows
1:41
so while you're thinking about it I can
1:43
go down in the corner and hit subscribe
1:45
if you've already done that then I
1:47
appreciate you supporting the show
1:48
there's multiple ways the best is
1:51
patreon which there's a link in the
1:53
description for that
1:55
also of course there's a merch like this
1:58
it's a sickness shirt which you can find
2:00
at askzac.com or at the link in the
2:03
description
2:04
uh also there's good old tip jar
2:07
information
2:08
much appreciated all right let's Dive In
2:12
so I was on vacation with my family and
2:15
out of the country and I thought that
2:18
while I was on Wi-Fi that I was going to
2:20
get all of my text messages I was wrong
2:25
so as we we had a bunch of rigamaru that
2:28
happened because of
2:30
uh weather and such with the with the
2:33
Airlines and we were supposed to land in
2:35
Dallas we ended Landing in Houston at
2:37
Bush Intercontinental Airport and having
2:39
to go through customs and immigration
2:41
and all that jazz and so as I was
2:44
Landing there was a message from my
2:45
buddy Paul Bogart uh asking if I could
2:48
play and there was also a message from
2:50
his guitar player Nick Palmer asking if
2:52
I could play uh that weekend but I
2:55
didn't know if they were talking about
2:56
like a two weeks ago or a week ago or
2:58
what
2:59
well after we went through all the
3:01
rigmaru of customs and immigration and
3:03
all that jazz
3:05
um I ended up I called Paul and I said
3:08
was this for last week or is this for
3:09
this week and he said no it's for this
3:12
week and uh he was hoping I could go
3:15
because they had contacted another
3:19
guitar player but of course he was going
3:21
to have to learn like 50 songs
3:23
and uh that's rough to go out with a
3:27
lead guitar player that's never played a
3:29
show with a group and know all those
3:31
Tunes also I'll just be you know
3:34
straight up I I love playing it wasn't
3:37
the best timing
3:39
um because you know of course I was just
3:41
coming in from another country with my
3:43
family and needed to catch up on other
3:45
stuff but with Paul in the situation he
3:48
was in and also with me always wanting
3:50
to play gigs I just you know can't play
3:53
enough
3:55
um I said yes and so we got home on
4:00
Thursday at 4 P.M
4:03
and then I had to leave at 8 30 a.m the
4:06
next day to drive for like eight hours
4:09
to go to Siloam Springs Oklahoma which
4:12
is kind of on the border of Arkansas and
4:15
Oklahoma
4:16
so played there on Friday night
4:20
and then on Saturday I had a really
4:23
funny thing happen the bass player in
4:26
the band his name is Wes Burkhart he
4:28
said I really need to get another strap
4:30
I left my strap at home
4:32
and I didn't want to get another one and
4:34
so uh
4:35
the closest one to us was a guitar House
4:39
of Tulsa which I really like that shop
4:41
and also like Tulsa you know you know
4:44
banding guitar they're both really good
4:46
shops but uh House of guitars you know
4:49
was was closer it was easier to get to
4:51
and we needed to get to load in
4:53
at uh at the Hard Rock and so we stopped
4:56
there and I go in the shop and Josh
5:00
Scott from of JHS pedal Fame was there
5:04
and I know Josh I've known him for many
5:07
years and I know he gets this a lot and
5:10
he probably gets really tired of this
5:11
but he always shocks me about how tall
5:13
he is because I'm about 6'2 and he's he
5:16
just seems like he's a lot taller than I
5:18
am
5:19
and he was looking through the used
5:21
pedals and he told me that he had over 6
5:25
000 pedals and I believed him I don't
5:27
think that's an exaggeration
5:29
so and he told me that rhett Shull was
5:32
going to be there in a bit but we were
5:33
kind of pressed for time so I kind of
5:34
waited as long as I could and then as I
5:37
was as I told you know the guys that hey
5:40
we just need to go we get out to the
5:42
parking lot there's red and so I uh
5:45
Rhett was kind enough to get a photo so
5:48
I'll show that here wherever I can show
5:50
it and so that's me and Rhett and
5:52
Rhett's taller than me also these guys
5:54
are are big dudes so
5:58
um
5:59
anyway it was really great to meet him
6:01
and played of course the gig at the Hard
6:04
Rock in Tulsa and that went over great
6:07
and then came home on Saturday I mean on
6:11
Sunday and went through a bunch of crazy
6:13
weather and stuff but all was good and
6:16
yeah glad to be home so before I put all
6:20
my stuff away I thought I would go ahead
6:22
and show you you know what I think are
6:25
the the essentials so first off you know
6:28
of course a guitar so I've got this is a
6:30
levees gig bag and I just really like
6:33
them a lot I don't like using hard cases
6:35
and such and I always like to keep the
6:37
guitar with me so I never put a guitar
6:40
like with the amps and stuff like that
6:43
so uh I always keep this guitar with me
6:46
sometimes if I have a you know I always
6:48
take a second guitar but if I uh you
6:51
know if they do have a you know
6:52
situation like that then I find
6:53
something else to store it in but uh
6:55
here I'll open this up
6:59
so of course
7:01
here's my good old
7:02
57 Esquire and uh here's my uh
7:07
Blue Chip tpr35
7:12
RB pick I really like this one a lot so
7:15
I use either this or the uh
7:18
you know the d'andrea medium heavy so
7:22
those are kind of my two favorite picks
7:24
and uh well just set that down here
7:30
and let's see what we have in the uh
7:33
good old compartment
7:35
of course we've got a strap
7:38
which you always got to have unless you
7:40
can place it down you got a nail file
7:43
this is essential for me because I play
7:46
you know picking fingers and so if
7:49
especially if I haven't played a gig in
7:50
a while then usually my nails are a
7:52
little longer and they'll get gouged out
7:54
some and that'll start to hang and I'll
7:56
tear my nails completely apart so
7:58
whenever I start gouging them out I
8:01
smooth them out with this and usually I
8:02
have them this sitting on top of my amp
8:05
for me it's an essential
8:07
in ears you know if you're you know not
8:11
using wedges these are essential and so
8:13
these are just the uh the cheapest sure
8:16
in-ears and I like these these work fine
8:20
always got to make sure you have that
8:23
this is a Coricidin slide that my friend
8:26
Chad Cox who supports me on patreon gave
8:29
me this got thrown away by the crew at
8:33
at the Hard Rock Casino and uh I had to
8:37
tell the guys it's like you've got to
8:39
find that and so the the lighting
8:41
director Danny was kind enough to go
8:44
dumpster diving and find this yeah it
8:47
had already been putting a big garbage
8:50
can so I was really glad to have this
8:53
back because these are expensive and I
8:56
have a couple of these and this is my
8:57
favorite one so glad to still have that
9:02
Daddario nyxl 9.5 through 44. these are
9:07
my favorite strings right now
9:10
uh or I'll use the nyxl tens so I uh you
9:15
know one of the other depending on the
9:16
guitar and depending how my hand is
9:18
doing that week so but most of the time
9:20
it's it's this set and these are great I
9:23
can leave these on
9:25
multiple gigs and they'll have a lot of
9:28
life in them
9:30
what else
9:33
string Cutters these are ones I stole
9:35
from my mother when I was 13 years old
9:37
and of course the blue handle is
9:39
essential for good tone
9:40
uh Peg Winder of course you got to be
9:43
able to change strings
9:45
and of course a capo so and this is a
9:48
special Shubb Capo that's made for the
9:50
uh seven and a quarter radius you can if
9:53
you look closely you can see it has more
9:55
curve to it
9:57
so if you have a vintage Fender or one
9:59
with a you know vintage radius you need
10:01
a special Capo otherwise it won't really
10:04
mash the strings down correctly and so
10:07
it's not any more expensive you just
10:08
have to kind of find them
10:10
and you've got to have that let's see
10:13
anything else down here
10:15
oh that's it
10:18
all right
10:19
let's go to the pedal board
10:21
this is a pedal train case but it does
10:24
not have a pedal train board in it
10:27
and
10:28
it has a mono board in there that I've
10:32
been using for quite a while and I've
10:34
got some foam in here to kind of fill it
10:37
out I'm going to just throw the foam at
10:39
the part of the room
10:42
case over there
10:44
here we go
10:46
so this is my current pedal board uh no
10:50
I mean the first thing you're going to
10:51
say is is that a clone no it's not it's
10:54
a kon clone it's one of the first
10:57
exact
10:58
clones that I've ever seen where they
11:00
actually do the housing also that was
11:02
done by a cat here in Nashville who
11:05
wants to remain nameless and I think
11:08
he's only made a handful of them I don't
11:10
know if he's going to make any more of
11:11
them these are Master Series plugs from
11:15
uh George L's I really like those they
11:18
made those back 10 years ago they don't
11:21
make them anymore they're really big so
11:23
they're not good for cramming a bunch of
11:25
stuff but since I only have a couple of
11:26
petals I like using them
11:28
turbo tuner
11:30
XTS rehoused mostortion the klon copy
11:34
and of course you have the deep blue mad
11:37
for Mad Professor delay I love this
11:41
because it's just it's small it's easy
11:43
to use I usually use it just for long
11:45
delays and otherwise leave it off and
11:47
just use the amp reverb when I'm doing
11:49
chicken picking or Up Tempo stuff so and
11:52
I can you know switch it to a slapback
11:54
thing pretty easy yeah
11:57
most importantly of course we have the
12:00
truetone CS6 power supply and this of
12:06
course I work for Truetone and this is
12:09
the uh a wonderful power supply that uh
12:12
Bob makes and I requested it and I'm so
12:17
glad he makes this I've been using this
12:19
same one for about six years now and
12:21
it's always been dead quiet and done a
12:23
great job and so uh yeah thanks true
12:26
tone
12:27
all right there's pedal board
12:30
now the amp
12:32
so uh
12:34
I'm just gonna I'm gonna talk about the
12:36
cover first so this is a two key cover
12:39
t-u-k-i and I've been using two key
12:42
covers for probably 20 years and I just
12:45
really like them a lot one I like them
12:46
because they have this really cool
12:48
velcro strap that holds it on and so
12:50
when you're sliding it around you know
12:52
you're putting in the back of a car or
12:53
anything like that it doesn't slide out
12:55
of the cover
12:56
and I like that so now I'm going to make
12:58
a big velcro sound
13:02
isn't that satisfying
13:03
uh
13:05
it's made out of a nice padded material
13:08
and it's got this little flap thing for
13:12
the for the handle to go underneath that
13:14
it's just a really good cover of course
13:17
I've got a Cains Ballroom sticker on
13:19
there so I love these These are great if
13:23
you are not around road cases so if you
13:26
have your gear and it's going to go
13:27
around other you know you've got to pack
13:29
it with guys using road cases well you
13:31
can't do this
13:33
road cases require other road cases
13:36
so I can do this for these the kind of
13:40
gigs I'm doing but if I was you know if
13:42
this was going in a big trailer or
13:43
something like that I would have to use
13:45
a uh a road case because
13:48
um yeah this would just get completely
13:50
torn up but this is better than most
13:52
slip covers because it's padded
13:55
all right the amp this is my uh
13:59
headstrong little King it's just the
14:01
stock
14:02
Princeton model uh you know it doesn't
14:04
have any hot rodding done to it other
14:06
than it has a 12 inch speaker it has the
14:08
emminence
14:09
uh Alessandro
14:12
g-a-s-c 64 the 12 inch speaker it's a
14:16
ceramic magnet
14:17
and this has quickly become a favorite
14:20
amp for me I've been using it for all my
14:24
gigging since I got it and it just does
14:26
a stellar job
14:28
I run it about four and a half and uh
14:31
you know of course run the treble about
14:33
six or seven in the base around three
14:36
reverbs a little over two and then speed
14:39
and intensity speeds at four intensities
14:42
at seven and uh yeah I just and I used
14:47
the tremolo on the amp and and I so I I
14:50
run the foot switch here I'll just show
14:52
the back real quick
14:53
so there's the speaker and uh
14:57
I run this
14:59
over to the pedal board and I mark
15:02
the vibrato or tremolo side with a piece
15:06
of colored tape and so that way I can
15:08
see quickly which side is which and
15:11
because the Reverb I don't really turn
15:13
off and on that much so the tremolo is
15:15
what I'm going to turn off and on and so
15:16
that's why I always put a nice piece of
15:18
reflective tape on there
15:22
all right
15:24
let's move this to the side a little bit
15:26
and then we get to the
15:29
final piece with which is this uh what I
15:33
call my gak box and it serves two
15:36
purposes so let's uh let's start pulling
15:39
some of the stuff out so
15:41
you got a Daddario Planet Waves cable
15:44
with our right angle on one a straight
15:47
on the other
15:49
uh
15:50
these are a couple uh
15:53
guitarcables.com and I'm not sure if
15:55
they're still around or not but these
15:56
are some cables I got a while back that
15:58
have really nice ends on it it's really
15:59
good cable and these are these are each
16:02
about 20 feet and these are what I use a
16:05
lot of the time and uh and they're
16:08
really nice so of course one is the
16:10
guitar to the pedal board and the other
16:11
one is the pedalboard
16:14
um back to the amp and that's about how
16:17
far I like to be away from my amp and
16:19
then the Daddario cable is kind of a
16:21
backup so
16:23
these are good
16:25
oh volume pedal
16:28
so sometimes I'll run this in front of
16:32
my pedal board
16:34
um
16:35
like on this run that we did we didn't
16:37
have a steel player and so I knew I was
16:38
going to need to cover kind of some
16:40
steel guitar-ish parts and really to me
16:43
that means using a volume pedal to swell
16:45
into things and so I ran this first So
16:48
guitar straight into the Dunlop volume X
16:51
and then of course the output goes into
16:53
the tuner on the board and on if I was
16:56
doing more of a pop rock thing I would
16:59
have a wawa pedal probably instead of
17:01
this in front of my board
17:04
guitar stands why because it just looks
17:07
unprofessional when you uh you have
17:10
guitars all laying on amps or laying on
17:13
the floor and stuff like that so guitar
17:15
stands are not expensive and you know I
17:18
have a couple different ones lying
17:19
around this is a grooving one
17:22
g-r-u-v-e-n and I like this one because
17:24
it uh you know it kind of doesn't take
17:26
up a lot of space and it comes together
17:29
like that it looks really nice and is
17:31
very unobtrusive
17:33
so nobody of mine gave me a couple of
17:35
these and so I still use them
17:38
so that's one stand
17:40
then my other one is one of the guys at
17:43
truetone gave me this when he was
17:44
cleaning out his office so this is a
17:48
Aroma
17:50
made in China guitar stand I just I like
17:54
it because it it folds up really well
17:56
and it's uh you know it's been fine so
18:00
those are my two stands because I always
18:01
take two guitars and I didn't show the
18:04
other guitar just because it was just a
18:05
backup telecaster and all I'd have with
18:07
that is a strap and another a backup
18:10
Capo
18:13
um
18:15
extension cord AC so it's got
18:19
three outlets on it and then of course
18:21
it's a grounded plug That's essential
18:24
don't show up to a gig
18:27
without an extension cord you know
18:29
without a multi you know plug on it
18:31
because you're gonna have to run it
18:33
somehow you're gonna have to run it for
18:35
your pedal board or your amp or maybe
18:36
both
18:38
it's just an essential
18:41
IEC cables with pedal boards and amps
18:45
and such you always have to have IEC
18:47
cable so here's one that I use you know
18:50
for my pedal board
18:52
and then I have a second one just as a
18:55
backup
18:56
so just because these are things that
18:59
you can find but it's awkward to have to
19:02
go and find one of these uh right before
19:04
show
19:06
of course
19:07
I'm always one to be uh prepared and
19:09
have backups and I don't take a backup
19:12
amp anymore
19:13
my backup amp is this it's this Strymon
19:17
iridium and this does a great job it
19:20
sounds great and that way I don't have
19:21
to take another amp out on the road to
19:23
take up more space
19:25
and also the tubes will get you know
19:28
rattled to death and this does a fine
19:30
job so I've already got you know a DC
19:33
cable going into it that can plug into
19:36
one of the extra outlets on my CS6 and
19:38
then you have the input that'll go from
19:40
the last pedal the output will go to
19:43
this radial jdi and I like the sound of
19:47
this uh direct box one I like that it's
19:50
passive but it's got the Jensen
19:52
transformer so it kind of softens the uh
19:55
the outputs um and uh and it's got you
20:00
know phase reversal and ground lift and
20:02
all that junk on there too so there's my
20:05
backup amp
20:09
and
20:10
here's some that's just in an essential
20:13
for running tube amps and this is the
20:14
brown box and so I really love being
20:18
able to see what the voltage is coming
20:20
in and I get more consistent tone just
20:23
by being able to kind of control where
20:25
I'm at and so you can have Wall voltage
20:27
that's as high as 125 or higher or you
20:31
can even outwards around 115 so I like
20:35
to run blackface style fender amps at
20:38
about 117 and so that way I'm able to
20:41
you know control that and of course I
20:45
don't use it I don't use any of the
20:46
attenuation when you're at a place that
20:48
has it at 115 but even then you'll find
20:51
that it varies during the night and
20:53
depending on if you know what else is
20:55
being run on that line and so sometimes
20:57
I'll have to turn it on or switch it you
20:59
know during sets and stuff
21:02
all right
21:03
now
21:05
for my GAC box
21:07
so this is a Coca-Cola Bottling Company
21:12
crate from Jackson Tennessee which is of
21:15
course the home of Carl Perkins and
21:19
that's also the home of the Rockabilly
21:20
Hall of Fame and so my wife found this
21:24
for me at a flea market out in the
21:27
middle of nowhere and I think it was 10
21:29
bucks five bucks something like that and
21:31
I found this is perfect because I can
21:33
put all my stuff in it then
21:36
I put it up like this
21:37
and you can put the amp on it
21:39
well there was a stage where we were
21:42
playing at and I felt like it was just a
21:44
little too
21:46
you know the stage was really nice and
21:48
it was a really nice venue and I found
21:50
out something really cool well guess
21:52
what
21:54
this Tuki cover will go perfectly over
21:56
it we'll just squash down a little bit
21:59
and I'm gonna have to get up to do this
22:00
but uh
22:03
then
22:07
the amp goes right on top
22:10
and all of a sudden you have the amp at
22:14
a perfect height and you've got it off
22:17
the ground and you want to get your amp
22:21
off the ground when you're at a lot of
22:23
these venues especially if they have
22:24
Subs
22:26
so if a venue has subs then all that low
22:29
end is going to get picked up by the
22:30
amplifier and it's going to go get into
22:32
the microphone and it's just going to
22:34
create more of that base Rumble that we
22:36
all hate
22:37
and so it's a really good idea to get
22:40
your amp off the ground if you're at a
22:43
small club that has no subs well who
22:46
cares but if you're if you're playing
22:48
bigger venues and I don't even mean
22:49
gigantic ones but so many places have
22:51
Subs now that uh you know I really
22:55
highly recommend you get the amp off
22:58
the ground
22:59
all right guys well I hope you've
23:01
enjoyed today's episode and uh just to
23:04
look at the gear that I use and yeah you
23:07
saw everything except of course the
23:08
second Telecaster that I would bring
23:10
with a capo so all right guys I'll see
23:13
you next time bye