Gear
My guitar rig really hasn't changed that much from when I used to do a lot of session work. Studio work and frequent club and theater gigs with a wide range of bands dictated the set up I used originally. The rig needed to be quick to set up and break down. I also needed a wide array of tones. At some festival gigs, I had to use the backline amps which could be anything from a Fender Deluxe to a Mesa Mark IV so I had to have a rig that wasn't amp specific.
I used to do all of my own setups but Jason from Too Many Guitars set up my guitars for the last album. He also restored the mid 1960s Audition in the picture below that my grandfather Johnny Cooper left when he passed.
Here is a pic of my main rig set up for recording "The Revolution of Real":
Fender American Deluxe Fat Strat(w/2 vintage noiseless pickups and one DH-1) ----->Jim Dunlop Crybaby--->Jim Dunlop Univibe--->Boss DS-1--->Ibanez Power Lead PL5---->Ibanez Digital Modulation Delay DL5---->Boss RC20XL Loop Station. I also use an MXR Distortion + and a Zoom 505 from time to time while recording. The pedal board is the SKB PS-15.
From there the signal goes into a Marshall JCM 2000 TSL-100 Head w/Marshall JCM 900 1960B Cabinet (Stock) for distortion tones or a Fender '93 Super with 4x10" speakers (EV Vintage Blue) for clean tones.
I primarily used a Shure SM57 to mic the cabinets about an inch off the cone's center and anywhere from one to 6 inches away from the cabinet depending on the volume. Of course I have been known to play VERY LOUDLY. Sometimes (most of the time) I bypass all of it and just run the Strat or an Ibanez RT 450 (w/ DiMarzio Super Distortion (I am pretty sure))straight into the Marshall or Johnson J-Station. I use Whirlwind and GeorgeL cables.
I still haven't found the tone I am looking for so it is a constant struggle and I am a firm believer that tone is in your fingers! I think the best tone I ever had was from my first amp which was a PEAVEY Special 130 especially after I replaced the stock speaker with a Celestion G12M-70.
My main two acoustic guitars are a Fender Jumbo (flammed maple back and sides) with a Seymor Duncan SA-1 pickup or a VERY old Ovation Celebrity (in the back).
