Portable Guitar Tools

Modern Solutions for Successful Gigging

Portable Guitar Tools

Portable Guitar Tools

In March, guitarist Peter Thorn published an article for Premier Guitar titled “Simplify Your Life: Portable Power Tools For The Modern Guitarist.” Peter feels that being practical in today’s age is the key to successful gigging. Face it; budgets are not what they used to be, and they haven’t been for a long time. Peter says, “Forget about the limos, refrigerator racks, and 100-watt stacks of rock and roll excess.” As an alternative, he presents a modern-day approach with technology and portability. Peter covers modeling guitars, dual pedals, amp modelers, and portable guitar practice solutions. Here are a few Roland and BOSS solutions to these modern day challenges that Peter discusses.

Portable Guitar Tools #1: Modeling Guitars

For this portion, Peter presents the problem of having to cover many sounds during a gig. Peter asks, “How do you cover nylon-string, 6 and 12-string acoustic sounds, Strat, Tele, and humbucker tone in various tunings – and maybe even a sitar part – without hauling a bunch of guitars to the gig?” To our delight, he replied with the VG Stratocaster. We currently offer two VG Stratocaster models, the G-5 and the G-5A in Candy Apple Red. The G-5 is a “hybrid” Strat, made of components from both U.S.-produced and Mexican-produced Strat instruments. The G-5A American Standard Strat is a 100% U.S.-made. There are certain differences between an American Standard and Mexican Standard Strat, primarily the bridge, pickups and neck finish. The G-5A is also a limited edition model and is only available at authorized V-Guitar Station dealers.

Portable Guitar Tools #2: Multi Effects Pedals

Multi-effects pedals are cool because they do more than one thing. Peter uses these for sessions and gigs where portability and versatility are a must without sacrificing tone. Roland currently offers the following multi-effects pedals:

Guitar

Bass

Portable Guitar Tools #3: Amp Modelers

This subject was covered in a previous article dedicated entirely to Roland Amp Modelers. Basically, we have guitar amps, multi-effects processors and pedals that model other amps digitally. This is also possible with software, however; we recommend dedicated hardware for best results. This technology saves guitarists from having to purchase and lug around amps that could be very expensive, bulky or fragile (such as tube amps). In his article Peter says, “there are some die-hards that still scoff at the idea of using units like these. But modeling has really gotten to the point where even tubeamp purists have to stand up and take notice.”

Portable Guitar Tools #4: Practice Solutions

Plugging into an amp in cramped spaces for practice is not always practical for Peter and most guitarists. The best solution for Peter, and his current favorite piece of gear, is the JS-10. This self-contained audio player has onboard effects, amp modeling and 350 presets of audio loops to jam along to. The JS-10’s little brother, the JS-8 does the same thing with a few differences. The JS-10’s effects engine is based on the GT-100, and the JS-8’s is based on the GT-10. The JS-10 has a sub-woofer while the JS-8 doesn’t. The JS-10 has more pattern presets and also two guitar inputs while the JS-8 has fewer presets and only one input. Another practice solution is the CUBE Lite guitar amplifier with CUBE JAM app. This powerful little unit doubles as an audio player while blending into living spaces.

Peter Thorn

Peter Thorn

Peter Thorn is an L.A.–based guitarist who has toured and recorded with Chris Cornell, Melissa Etheridge, Daniel Powter, and others. His solo album, Guitar Nerd, is now available on iTunes and through CDbaby.com. Read more about his career and music at peterthorn.com.

We hope you found this article useful. As a modern guitarist, do you think you will use any of these modern solutions? Do you have a portable guitar tools that you already use? Drop us a line!

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