Covers band rig advice

[The Scarecrow]

Hi team,

Started up a covers band with some guys and girls from my present and past bands, mostly as a way for us all to jam together again, but without all the time constraints of an originals band i.e. writing and recording. It's a pretty casual affair so far, but already have a mates wedding and a couple of xmas gigs lined up. Our set differs from the usual 'pub rock' covers band as we're really only doing stuff that we like as guilty pleasures (mostly 80's, 90's and early 00's stuff - Oasis, Foo's, 3 Doors Down, Cake, Dandy Warhols, Cardigans, etc but with a few classics thrown in - Fleetwood Mac, The Cure, The Who and so forth), but we've had good feedback so far which is always nice.

I'm well aware that one shouldn't be limited to what is 'theoretically' the 'correct' rig or setup for one thing or another, but I'd like to have some feedback from you guys who have a bit more experience in this matter, just to see if there's anything I can be using that is going to sound better or get the flexibility for covers gigs. I'm mostly talking about guitars and pedals here as my amp is pretty good as a clean base.

Current rig
- Rivera 2x12 combo (pretty much a Twin type clean with a mixed Marshall/early Mark series Mesa distortion which is good, but really needs to be cranked to sound decent)
- Boss ME50 - pretty much covers most of my FX requirements.
- Gibson Flying V with stock PAF style buckers
- Fender Thinline tele with single coil neck/bridge = splitable humbucker

I'm toying with buying a Strat as that 'all rounder guitar' and possibly three pedals for gainier sounds - a mild OD, a medium gain OD and high-octane distortion.

Suggestions on the pedals?

Would a S-S-H strat be a good bet?

Am I just being pedantic and do I already have a pretty kick ass rig and Sootying for no apparent reason.

Also, no HD500 talk will be acknowledged.

[robnobcorncob]

You will be able to cover everything with your Tele, Boss Multi and the Rivera.

People at covers gigs don't care if you use a strat on a song that featured a les paul or vice versa... they care about hearing the songs they know. If the song needs a clean tone then give it clean tone... the most important thing is that your band is super tight and you play the RIGHT songs so that the punters keep buying beer = more money for the bar = happy bar manager/owner = you get asked back to play again.

I've gone through heaps of rig changes whilst doing covers gigs. H-S-S Strat seems to be the most versatile allrounder guitar on paper but to be honest I found my Telecaster (2 single coils and a 4 way switch) was the best guitar for covers.

[Hot_Grits]

So your tele has a splittable bridge humbucker? -if so, I'd say there's no need for a strat.

Pedals? how long is that piece of string...

I'll start with recommending a Musket fuzz, a DLS and a Wampler triple recstortion (or whatever it's called). That would be a pretty good set for taking the 90s on.

[Zaulkin]

Sounds like a pretty good rig to me Scarecrow. Man I need to hear that Rivera... But tooooo busy.

[twistedthoughts]

I play covers. I have an M13 in the loop of my amp for modulations, delays, whammys and volume boosts. It's overkill as I only use half of the available effects.

I play a Gibson Les Paul and agree with Rob - it makes fuck all difference. Just play what you like. So long as it's clean when it's meant to be clean and dirty when it's meant to be dirty, you'll be fine. I'm considering getting a HSS strat, but that's only because I've never owned a strat and figured HSS would be more gig-friendly.

Good amp, some drive pedals (if needed), any guitar and a MFX unit. Done. Anything more is optional.

[machina]

I agree with the above comments, but I'll also chip in with saying that my old Strat (you know the one) was pretty good at covering a lot of ground. It was a great all-rounder and sounded pretty good clean or dirty. It was an old plus deluxe with Lace Sensors in it (red/silver/blue, not the gold set). Pretty sure you can pick those up for just over a grand or so, maybe less.

[machina]

Even though I'm not into Strats anymore I really regret selling it

[The Scarecrow]

Even though I'm not into Strats anymore I really regret selling it

I regret you selling it to bro, I wish I'd bought it!

[CJ]

I agree with the above comments, but I'll also chip in with saying that my old Strat (you know the one) was pretty good at covering a lot of ground. It was a great all-rounder and sounded pretty good clean or dirty. It was an old plus deluxe with Lace Sensors in it (red/silver/blue, not the gold set). Pretty sure you can pick those up for just over a grand or so, maybe less.

I've got one of those. Definitely my choice if you only took one guitar to a gig.

[druz15]

stick with the tele IMO, if you set your amp and FX up right it should be all you need, specially with splittable buckers. My tele got me by in covers gigs, just used a few OD pedals for a few different sounds.
As mentioned, nobody knows the difference. I used to use a Boss GT-8 and would pretty much have a patch for every song we played, which in the end was kinda pointless, there's only so many lightly overdriven patches you need, so I ended up having a clean patch, a light OD/compression patch (think sweet home alabama) with an OD for a bit more gain, a Mesa patch for fighting the Foo, and a lead patch, with all the FX I needed stored into similar patches on different banks

[Polar Bear]

If this is an excuse to get another guitar, then I say 'do it'.

[druz15]

If this is an excuse to get another guitar, then I say 'do it'.

ignore my last post, I'm going with this

[Polar Bear]

I can't believe there are people here saying, 'Nah, you don't need more gear...' Is this a new dimension I've not discovered before, this is NZG!

[Pastasauce]

I play covers. I have an M13 in the loop of my amp for modulations, delays, whammys and volume boosts. It's overkill as I only use half of the available effects.

I play a Gibson Les Paul and agree with Rob - it makes fuck all difference. Just play what you like. So long as it's clean when it's meant to be clean and dirty when it's meant to be dirty, you'll be fine. I'm considering getting a HSS strat, but that's only because I've never owned a strat and figured HSS would be more gig-friendly.

Good amp, some drive pedals (if needed), any guitar and a MFX unit. Done. Anything more is optional.

Agree... but I reckon even the MFX is optional. Beyond delay and wah, my experience has been that it's really only the other guitarists who notice if I'm not using the right ammount of reverb when we play Careless Whisper.

...Or that I'm playing the sax line on my guitar.

I reckon people just want to hear the songs. In terms of them getting into it, I've found that beer has a lot more to do with it than my tone.

[rocklander]

so you're saying "don't hate the game, hate the player"?