 Guitars
1998 Gibson Les Paul Custom Shop Elegant - Butterscotch
1996 Fender American Standard Stratocaster - Black with Maple neck and fretboard
1999 '56 Reissue Les Paul Goldtop
Amps
2002 Matchless DC-30
1997 Rivera Knucklehead 100
1990's Marshall limited edition 1960 A cabinet, loaded with 2-Celestion Vintage 30's and 2-Celestion "Greenbacks"
Pedals (in order of the signal path)
Boss TU2 tuner
Fulltone '69
Loooper - 2 Loops
Bad Cat 2-Tone (loop 1)
Maxon OD-808 (loop 2)
Electro Harmonix Big Muff (loop 2)
Axess Electroncis BS2 Buffer/Splitter
Fulltone Clyde Wah
Ibanez TS-9 Tubescreamer
Custom hard bypass loop
Electro Harmonix Deluxe Memory Man (in loop)
Loooper Custom A/B - dual outs (out 1 to DC-30, out 2 to Rivera Knucklehead)
Other Pedals and spares
Fulltone Fat Boost
Electro Harmonix Big Muff
Electro Harmonix Small Stone
DOD Graphic EQ
Custom hard bypass loop
Whirlwind Selector
Miscellaneous
Dimarzio 18 ft cable (3)
Monster Cable 500 21 ft cable (1)
George L's Vintage Red cable 1ft (10)
Dunlop Tortex Standard picks 0.88mm
GHS Progressives - Extra Light/Heavy .009-.050
Dunlop Strap Locks
Why I use the gear I do, and why it is in the order it is in
by Jimmy Rolle
Les Paul and Stratocaster
The Les Paul Elegant is by far my main guitar. It just has the sound and feel I like. I use the Strat and the Reissue Paul for different sounds here and there to mix things up.
Pedals -- In the order of the signal path
1) Tuner -- I have it set for silent tune, because listening to someone tune up a guitar at full volume always drives me nuts. I like it first in line for convenience more than anything. There are some people who argue that the tuner functions at the highest level of accuracy if it is first in line because there is less chance of cable capacitance eating a chunk of your guitar signal before it gets there. It can't hurt, and I like it in front, so that is where it goes.
2) '69 -- This is the best sounding fuzz I have ever played, and I've played a lot of them. I use it almost exclusively for leads. It can be heard on the FOTC solo.
3) Loooper - 2 Loops -- This pedal is used to activate the two pedals in the loops, essentially to keep the pedalboard layout as small/easy as possible. Loop 1 is the Bad Cat 2 Tone, Loop 2 is the Big Muff.
4) Bad Cat 2 Tone -- Two channels of tube driven overdrive/distortion. The first channel is a simple tone boost, for driving the amp a little harder and adding some nifty top end complexity. Channel 2 is Muff like, but with less gain and compression, and more complexity. I usually only use channel 1, and mostly for rhythm work.
5) Big Muff -- IF YOU HAVE A BIG MUFF OR ANY OTHER FUZZ PEDAL, TRY IT IN FRONT OF YOUR WAH PEDAL. This will give you a crazy wah sound when you want one. This is the pedal I use in conjunction with the wah for sounds like the one at the start of Big Rig, and for the Ride solo. I use this pedal for leads and for rhythm. I've got a spare because of the fine Russian-made quality of this pedal. Not built the greatest, but sounds better than most $200 boutique distortion pedals.
6) BS2 Buffer/Splitter -- This pedal helps prevent signal loading due to cable capacitance, and eliminate signal loss due to long pedal chains and cable runs. This pedal also is helpful for splitting a signal to another amp via the built in isolated transformer output to eliminate any ground loop hum.
7) Clyde wah -- I've owned 4 wahs during my guitar playing years. I used a standard Crybaby for most of that time, which is a great sounding pedal, and is easy to get good wah sounds out of. If you like a medium to narrow sweep range, and something in which you use the entire travel/sweep range all the time, buy a Crybaby or a Vox. They work great for that. I wanted something that had the widest frequency sweep range available, from undicipherable mud to tear your face off. This is what the Clyde does. Inside the pedal is a dial that you can set for sweep range and bass response for different sounds. I more or less leave it about where it was originally tuned by the guy who built it. It is not easy to use, compared to other wahs, but it sounds much more clear and even. If you get a chance to try one vs other wahs, you will hear the difference even if it is not for you. I have a standard Crybaby for a backup.
8) Tubescreamer -- One of the all time classic overdrive pedals. I like to use it for almost every lead, by itself or in conjunction with other pedals. The tubescreamer/fat boost combo is one of the best. I like to run it after the wah pedal, and near the end of the chain.
9) Memory Man -- Analog delay/echo. I prefer the sound of analog delay to digital delay for most applications. It has a milky, warm sound, but can't really do the precise clean delay sounds that digital can. I run it last so that anything I play, with any other effects, repeats just as it was heard the first time. This pedal needs to be placed in a loop of another pedal because it does not have a great bypass switch. There are echo and direct outputs, but even if you a/b these, the signal passes through the circuit and produces a very quiet but audible delay sound. I am using a simple true bypass loop to accomplish this.
10) Loooper Custom A/B -- This pedal is used to route my final signal to the amps. One output is sent to the DC-30, and one to the Rivera.
AMPS
Matchless DC-30 -- Very meaty and sensitive, with the best midrange in the business. Records really well.
Rivera Knucklehead -- I shopped for a head for about 1.5 years before I bought this amp. I have had it for 6 years and still think it is great. I bought this amp following a 8 head shootout in a Spokane music store involving 4 Marshalls (30th anniversary, JCM 900 SLX, JCM 900 4100, JCM 2000 DSL), a Soldano HR100, a Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier, and a Groove Tube Soul-o. All were routed through a Marshall 1960 4 x12 cab. I liked the knucklehead the best, without question. Again, this is all personal preference. The Rivera is all tube, 100 watts, and fairly simple in design. It is more versatile than most other amps I have played, so it is good for getting a lot of different sounds.
9) Marshall cab -- Marshall cabs are just flat out some of the better cabs out there. The combination of the Celestion Vintage 30 and Greenbacks sounds great to me. The Greenbacks give up "the goods" a LOT earlier than the V30s, so I get a lot of speaker breakup from them at standard volumes. A lot of people confuse speaker breakup with flabbyness in the low end. Good speaker distortion gives you big time punch that is hard to get any other way. The V30s keep the sound articulate throughout the sound range of the guitar. A cab loaded with all Greenbacks would sound great for some things, but the combo of the 2 is more versitile for classic rock and stoner sounds from cleanish to full on punishment....that is MIDRANGE heavy punishment.
Other Stuff
Cables-- Use the best cables that you can afford. They will last longer and sound better. I like Monster Cable, George L's, and Dimarzio the best. Again this is personal preference.
Strings -- Strings are strings. The main thing is to use new strings, all the time. I restring my guitars at least every week or so to keep a consistent sound. Ususally I restring after each full on practice, or after 3-4 days playing by myself. I would recommend using the heaviest gauge you can handle. Currently I am using GHS Boomers. I like a fairly heavy gauge on the bottom and lighter on top. The gauges are .10, .13, .17, .26, .38, .50.
I do not reuse or boil strings. I cut them off and throw them in the garbage. If my strings are more than 1 rehearsal or show old, I start to break them. At $5 per set, it is worth having new ones on all the time.
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