Hello and welcome to Guitar Boot Camp where I will be posting information and tips about guitar techniques and gear. I have been a guitarist for over 20 years. I am an average guitar player and I found I always drifted more toward the gear side of guitar playing. To me nothing sounds better than playing a few open chords through a nice sounding amp, tube or solid state. I have owned just about every classic amp from Marshalls to Fenders. I own several guitars including an American Strat, a Les Paul, a Tele and more.

I began home recording back in the 80’s with a Tascam Porta One 4-track. I was always after the perfect tone and was always interested in direct recording and amp simulators. I always thought micing an amp was one of the hardest things in the world. The first DI device that caught my eye was the Hughes and Kettner redbox. I bought the Sansamp and a few Rockman modules and have used modelers almost exclusively ever since for recording. I currently have the Behringer V-amp 2 which is a hell of a unit for the price.

Although I love modelers I am a purist at heart. I went to college for electrical engineering and I designed my own tube amp. It had 2 12ax7’s and a single EL84. I was hoping to design a low powered tube amp that I could push the hell out of the output stage. It’s nice to see that 20 years later this concept is catching on with products like the Epiphone Valve Junior Head.

In th future I will be showing some more of my own gear and reviewing new products. I also plan to showcase some YouTube videos of some amazing players out there.