When playing with Albireo, my main instrument is a Thornbory Lynton 110/C acoustic with a Fishman pickup. It's also had a Fishman power-jack pre-amp fitted and that really improves amplified sound. It goes straight into the PA desk via a Behringer Ultra DI 100 DI Box.
When playing electric, I use an Ibanez Blazer strat copy (I think it's a BL550) through a Marshall JTM310 (30 watt all valve 2x10 combo). In the past I've used a Zoom 3030 multi-effects unit mostly to make use of the programmable delays, but also for a bit of chorus and tremolo (which can be heard to great effect on earlier recordings). I gave up using it though, as the bypass isn't great and it really takes away from the natural sound of the guitar. I now just use a Boss graphic equalizer for fine tuning the tone, an Akai Headrush delay/looper, an Ibanez digital delay and a Marshall VibraTrem Pedal. I recently got an E-Bow as well and I've been having great fun with that.
Also cluttering the house up is a bog-standard Washburn acoustic and an old, old Hofner jazz guitar that looks lovely but is a real bugger to play! Sadly the piano I was borrowing went back to its real owner, but I've replaced it with a Fatar Studio SL880. It's not quite the same, but it's fairly close to a piano action. To accompany that there's a smattering of midi gear I've been picking up recently..... One day I might put some photos up here so you can see if it's worth coming round my house to nick them.
So what do I do with all this stuff? The Albireo sound is pretty much a straight-ahead ceilidh band although we like to rock it up a little. My work with Holly was a different matter, and it's probably best to listen to the recordings if you really want to know. They are a couple of years old though, so if you can't be bothered with that or want it from the horses mouth, here's a short answer. I don't really think of myself as a lead guitarist in the traditional sense (partly because I can't play blinding solos), but as an accompanist. So I'm more interested in feel than wailing away like a madman. It's what you don't play that counts. I was described as "sublimely subtle" by a local journalist and our bass player said he thought I sounded a bit like Vini Reilly at times, which will do for me!
Last modified: Thu Apr 04 14:50:46 GMT Daylight Time 2002