John's Gear ...

I currently have 3 nylon string guitars that I use for live and studio performances all built by luthier Jeff Sigurdson.

My steel string guitar is built by George Lowden.

All the acoustic guitars are fitted with b-band systems. Of all the different systems I have used to date, B-band to me is by far the best!

Yamaha has given me a great guitar for rehearsing. It seems to go every where with me. It's called a "Silent Guitar" and has become a favorite to take anywhere to practice.

Guitar cables! Believe it or not, the last time I was in Tokyo I was working with a studio engineer who introduced me to a cable with a solid silver core. I was very skeptical that it could make an audible difference to what I was currently using. So we ran a little test. I plugged my nylon string guitar direct into the console using what I thought to be my best guitar cable and we recorded 8 bars. We then recorded another 8 bars with a Zaolla solid silver core patch cable he had at the studio. We listened back to the recordings and in total amazement I didn't just hear a subtle difference, but more of a drastic one! The guitars tone was warmer and much more natural. Therefore from then on I have used nothing but solid silver core cables from Zaolla. A great new complement to my already wonderful sounding B-Band pick-ups and preamp.

My electric guitar is an old Fender American Strat that I've owned since the early 80's. It is equipped with split coil pick-ups called "Ultrasonics" The pick-ups are not available any more and it's a shame as they continue to sound incredible!

As for guitar strings, I currently use D'Addario Pro-Art'e EJ44 Extra Hard Tension strings for my nylon string guitars, D'Addario EXP16 strings for my Lowdin and D'Addario EXL120 strings for my strat.

I've used may different types of guitar picks over the past 30 years and the pick I now use is a Dava pick that has been modified to allow me to quickly change from playing finger style flamenco to the flat pick without missing a note.

To monitor my nylon string guitar on stage I plug into a Behringer Eurorack MX2004A board then into a Fender SPA-7500 amp. For effects I use a large hall reverb setting with a very short and subtle delay from a T.C. Electronics M300 rack mount multi effects unit. The Fender SPA-7500 is plugged into 2 Peavey TLM2 monitors.

For my steel string guitar I plug into a Crate Acoustic 125D amp.

I plug my strat into an old Mesa Boogie MII 100/60 watt head then into a speaker cabinet with a couple of old 12" celestion speakers from an old Fender Twin Reverb amp.

When recording I do most of my preproduction work from home. My home studio is PC based and I use primarily use Cubase.