Vernon Reid's crazy rig ...

1) I have yet to watch the video but:
a) Whats so great about VR? 1 maybe 2 decent albums of well interesting guitar playing... but certainly no one Id try to emulate
b) Im not overly aware of him or anything hes doing now, hes certainly no guitar hero
c) I used to dream of having a huge rack with tons of lights and pedals, no longer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
shasha said:
One last point that can't be ignored here....every single thing in his rig is a trip down to the local GC to replace. If something breaks or gets lost it's not a one of a kind limited piece of gear.
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At the time the Eventide H9 was a prototype, so no replacing that one in a hurry :)
 
I really have great respect for guitarists that breaks technical or musical grounds. Robert Fripp or Todd Rundgren, that I saw with his HP-PC's loaded with Ableton Live not long ago.
You absolutely can be a great guitarist and experiment without taking the music out of the equation.
 
Vernon always has been an innovator. He seems to manage it OK, but that's too much stuff for me. I'll stick with my FX thanks. I get great tone and it is simple for me to control.
 
Awesome!

It takes a certain kind of mind to run a rig like that, and musicians generally (with the exception of programmers) tend to be a little conservative in their equipment choices, what with all the looking back and all. :p We spend too much time looking backward to be truly innovative, and it can be the case that when a guitarist or musician is groundbreaking in their use of technology, the old argument of 'crap guitar player' is wheeled out...... not accusing anyone here of wheeling it out, btw!!! But, we have VR and The Edge (who, I would think, would regard this setup as a wet dream).

In short, we have piano players, and then we have synth players and programmers. We have guitarists, then we have Vernon Reid.

That setup is something I'd love to emulate..... I just haven't the money, but if I did, I wouldn't buy 16 PRS guitars. I'd buy this.
 
Copying licks, appreciate the gear that the great guys endorse, really narrow our mind-set to play further along the edge of our ability and creativity.
Normally a waste.
(Great words BigD).
 
People tend to only be familiar with his work with Living Colour and aren't familiar with his solo work and other collaborations, which are completely different and lean toward the experimental jazz/fusion side...
 
I think I got lost after he went to the iRig into the iPad. I also didn't see where/how he takes his signal and makes them all parallel. It does seem like an awful lot, but I suspect part of the reason he has all the equipment is it's his toy. He likes it. It's his way..
 
symphx said:
1)
b) Im not overly aware of him or anything hes doing now, hes certainly no guitar hero
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He is to me!

I'd suggest you check him out, he is if nothing else at least someone with his own approach to most things he does,
which also is evident in his rig (But I did not watch the video yet..)

Jens
 
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I dig Vernon a lot. I don't like every sound I hear from him, but he's super creative and always trying new things. He's so much more than the Living Colour guitarist. He was playing with Ronald Shannon Jackson's Decoding Society (Ornette Coleman inspired electric funk/jazz) and made a great album with Defunkt before LC and he's been a collaborator in all kinds of interesting projects. He has a cool duet album with Bill Frisell. Vernon is his own person and I love that about him.

Heaven help his roadie though. I do wonder how he makes enough $ to support enough roadie to get that rig together every night. It's not like LC is that huge and many of his projects are way more about art than commerce. I don't he's had nearly as many high $ side gigs as Doug Wimbish for example.
 
I liked the clean sound in the beginning of the video. From then on it was downhill for me....

I prefer my AXE and the limitations it gives.

AND the freedom to perform, because of its simplicity.

AAEN
 
Personally, I think you're giving him too much credit. When 'cult of personality' came out I was like, who is masturbating with the guitar? Very self-indulgent, busy, unmusical. never got what the big deal is. I sometimes think modern music business is about one thing and one thing only: convincing people via hype that some pig with lipstick is really a queen. And it works most of the time. There are a million trillion-note-a-minute guitarists, but how many can do what Albert Collins does here. He says more with one note than VR sez with a hundred!



symphx said:
1) I have yet to watch the video but:
a) Whats so great about VR? 1 maybe 2 decent albums of well interesting guitar playing... but certainly no one Id try to emulate
b) Im not overly aware of him or anything hes doing now, hes certainly no guitar hero
c) I used to dream of having a huge rack with tons of lights and pedals, no longer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Click to expand...
 
The Guitar and Pickup Modeling of the VG-99 is something that can not be made with the Axe-FX
 
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