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