Gear Reviews
The gigging keyboardist's desert-island board
Nord Stage 3
One board, every sound I need: pianos, organs, synths, and a sampler. The interface is fast enough to tweak mid-song.
Studio and stage workhorse
DW Collector's Series
These shells record themselves. Tuned up or down they stay musical, and the build quality is flawless after years of gigs.
The everyman electric, and for good reason
Fender Stratocaster
I have owned a dozen guitars and keep coming back to the Strat. The in-between positions are pure magic for clean tones, and it takes pedals beautifully. Versa…
Changed how our whole band writes together
Ableton Live 12 Suite
We used to write demos by passing voice memos around; now everyone drops ideas straight into a shared Live set and we arrange collaboratively before anyone eve…
Our band retired the old passive PA for these and never looked back
QSC K12.2
Two of these plus a sub have covered rooms up to about 200 people for us without strain. DSP presets for monitor vs. main use make repurposing them between mai…
The vocal mic I compare everything else against
Shure SM7B
Started using this for podcast recording and now it is my go-to for lead vocal tracking too. Rejects room noise extremely well without needing a treated room, …
Studio-grade reverb that lives on my board permanently
Strymon BigSky
I was skeptical about spending this much on a single pedal until I A/B'd it against a rack reverb unit I used to rent for sessions. It is that good. The shimme…
Incredible flexibility for the price
Boss Katana 100 MkII
I use this for both bedroom practice at low volume and small-venue gigs, and the built-in effects are genuinely usable rather than an afterthought. The tone st…
Loud, clean, and utterly reliable
Fender '65 Twin Reverb Reissue
This amp is famously loud for a reason, and at outdoor gigs that headroom means I never have to fight for clean tone even with a full band and no PA support on…
Real wooden-key feel without the real-piano weight
Yamaha CP88
The wooden-key action on this thing genuinely fooled a classically trained pianist friend of mine on the first try. Great for churches and function bands that …
The last stage keyboard I will ever need to buy
Nord Stage 4
I sold three separate keyboards to fund this and do not regret it once. Having genuinely great piano, organ, and synth engines under one roof means I stopped h…
Solved the apartment-practice problem completely
Roland TD-17KVX
Living in a third-floor walkup meant an acoustic kit was never going to happen. The TD-17's mesh heads feel close enough to real skins that switching back and …
A kit that finally recorded the way it sounds live
DW Collector's Series Maple
Every kit I owned before this one sounded better in the room than on tape. Not this one. The VLT shells have an open, articulate low end that translates throug…
A genuine studio workhorse
Fender American Professional II Jazz Bass
Recorded three EPs with this bass and it has been the one constant across every session engineer's preferences. The V-Mod II pickups give you that classic Jazz…
The most confident bass I have ever plugged in
Music Man StingRay Special
The StingRay hum has a reputation for a reason. Direct into a PA, it cuts through a four-piece mix without a single tone adjustment — my bandmates actually not…
Ridiculous value at this price point
PRS SE Custom 24
I demoed this next to guitars twice its price and could not justify the difference. The 85/15 pickups split cleanly into single-coil tones for the funkier song…
That classic SG growl, with a couple of caveats
Gibson SG Standard
There is a reason this shape has been in every rock band's arsenal since the 60s — it is light, it balances on a strap without fighting you, and the humbuckers…
My main gigging guitar for two years running
Fender Player Plus Stratocaster
I bought this to replace an aging MIM Strat that finally gave out on tour, and it has not left my side since. The noiseless pickups are the real story here — I…