Scott Henderson Discussion

[guitarplayer]

Hi Scott,
Have you ever gigged with a single channel amp with no loop? Occasionally I get back line for gigs with a reissue deluxe or similar amp, but it is tricky to do anything other than unity gain overdrive pedals(because you can't really push the pedals with this scenario) and delay and reverb straight in to the front of the amp.
I am curious if you ever had this experience?

[Scott Henderson]

I haven't done that on a gig, at least since I was a kid. I need a volume control in the loop so I can control my volume without affecting the gain. I sit in with friends sometimes and I'm in that situation where I'm playing an amp with no volume control - not enough gain at the beginning of my solo and drowned out by the band at the end - that's not something I want on my own gigs.

[guitarplayer]

Thanks Scott!
It seems like it is tricky to play with any vintage style amp when you want control over gain and volume... super reverbs, twins, bassman reissues, deluxes etc. It seems like the best bet is to request hot rod deluxes or deville when traveling and using back line?
btw I started using an sd9. What a great pedal!

[Scott Henderson]

I always rent a Marshall JCM2000 and two 1960 BX cabinets because they have Greenbacks. I rent two cabs so the amp runs at 8 ohms, and usually turn one cab around backwards because I don't need it for the size of rooms we play. The upside is that I get my choice of both amp and speakers. The downside is it's a bigger and more expensive rig to rent.

Renting a Hot Rod Deluxe or DeVille gets you a pretty good amp, but the speakers suck. Fender puts horrible speakers in their amps to save money, and that's why there's a Landau model DeVille with Celestions in it. But at least a stock Deville has an FX loop and gives you a way to control your volume without reaching back to the amp all the time.