Overall I keep my rig pretty simple and portable. I tend to gravitate towards more classic sounds and vintage tones. Most of my guitar inspirations like SRV, Hendrix, John Scofield and Trey Anastasio achieve great tones with very little gear (although the latter two mentioned do in fact have tons of gear, at the heart of their sound is something simple and magical), so I've always tried to keep that at the center of my own playing. Toys are toys and gadgets are gadgets. If you can't play who cares if you've got all of 'em.
I capture most of my own sounds with vintage replicas (note: the reissue stuff is more affordable, comes with warranties and typically easier to maintain although you can't beat great old gear). At some point I'll probably be adding some more authentic vintage gear to my set-up although I'm pretty happy with my current arrangement. But, hey ask me next week. If you're a player you know what I'm talking about. It seems the quest for great tone is never ending and as you evolve as a player so does the tools you use.
On a side note, I tend to change things up from time to time so this is my current recording and live rig, but who knows, I may add a new guitar or pedal in the mix or maybe splurge and get a new amp or something at some point.
I'll be adding videos to this page in the near future...
Fender Strat Deluxe Series
This is currently my primary live guitar. I bought it brand new when I was 16 and played the heck out of it. Then, one day I got on a Tele kick and switched to playing them exclusively for about 7 years. I pulled this Strat back out in 2009 and fell back in love with it and it has really re-shaped my tone. It was originally a red guitar with gold hardware and a tortoise shell pickguard. I wanted to change the look of it so I did the relic job on it myself. So, it's not a real vintage guitar, but has a much cooler look now and for some reason (probably just psychological) I think it sounds much better as well…it just has the right feel now.
Taylor 214 CE
This guitar records really well and is all over my Self Portrait album. It is my go-to guitar for writing and playing live, and I probably play this one more than any other instrument I own. It's my trusty sidekick if you will.
Cordoba 20 TM-CE Ukulele
This is a fairly recent addition to my arsenal. It tends to come out at least once a night at most shows…it's a crowd pleaser for sure. I also write a lot now on ukulele, which has definitely broadened my craft. Ukulele is a fun word to say and the music it makes is always fun loving as well.
Fender '52 Reissue Tele
In 2006 this became my primary guitar and is on a majority of 'The Matt Stansberry Band' records. This guitar is great and really does the whole raw, rock thing well, which worked great for the old MSB stuff, but in more recent years I've gone a little more bluesy/soulful with my Strat, so this one waits in the wings as my #2 electric. Also, while I was doing the relic work on my Strat I decided to throw this one in the mix as well. Being a designer and general artsy guy I really get into the visual aesthetics of things. I did a lot of homework on how to relic a guitar and had a great time experimenting with this one.
Fender Deluxe Reverb Reissue
I bought this amp in college and haven't done much to it other than replace new tubes with some nice vintage RCA tubes. Nothing fancy about this amp but it sounds clean, breaks up good and has never let me down. It's been all over the country, in trailers, spilled out onto pavement and always turns up and sounds great. Just on durability alone I'll probably never get rid of this amp!
Strings
I'm a big fan of Matt Schofield, who I actually met on a flight from London to Rome while I was on tour in Europe and that's honestly how I got turned onto his music - turns out he's a really nice guy too (he's a sick guitar player - check him out at www.mattschofield.com). Anyway I digress, so I decided to try some of his signature Curt Mangan strings and I love them. They are the perfect gauge (11s with a heavier bottom) and have a really awesome sound. I never make a big deal about strings, but I'm totally a fan of these puppies. For acoustic I use Elixir Polyweb, 12s. They sound clean and bright and last longer than other strings, which is good for me given I play my acoustic everyday and I want to change the strings as little as possible.
www.curtmangan.com
www.elixirstrings.com
Picks
For the longest time I used Fender cellulose medium picks, but I've been using Jim Dunlop black, nylon 1MM picks for awhile now, nothing fancy, but they have a little grip to them which helps give me a little more control.
I used to have a much larger 36" wide board with custom bypass strips, ins and outs on the board, hand built power source and mic stand holder built right into it, so fairly elaborate really. One day I just decided to cut down to just the pedals that I use for good tone, so I pulled out this smaller pedal board I had used on tour in Japan and it's been working great and gives me a limit on how many toys I can use at once, probably a good thing!
Boss Blues Driver (Keeley Mod)
I generally leave this pedal on the whole time I'm playing. I have it set to push my amp and give me a little grit. It sounds really soulful and truly is the core of my pedal board. Thanks to fellow Oklahoman, Robert Keeley, for putting the finishing touches on this pedal. He truly made a good pedal sound great!
T-Rex Mudhoney
This is my primary lead sound. I use it for taking my solos a little over the edge. It's got a fuzzy sound so it stays true to the classic sounds of the 60s but with a slightly more contemporary thing going for it. Great addition to my rig.
T-Rex Viper
I'm not a big fan of modern sounding modulation effects like Flange, Chorus and Phaser, so I went with this Uni-Vibe sounding effect for my modulation sounds. It's got a Hendrix thing going for it and a great sounding pedal.
T-Rex Replica
As you can see I'm a big fan of T-Rex's work and this pedal is the reason I got into them in the first place. It's got an excellent warm, analog delay sound and combined with a tap tempo it's pretty irreplaceable for me. T-Rex makes pedals out of Denmark and they have a great ear for good tone.
Boss DD3 Delay
I've had this delay for a long time and I can't even remember when I added it to my board. I leave this set at a moderately long delay setting and I kick this in on a lot of solos. It's not set up for tap tempo which works in my favor…just creates some space around what I'm doing and I'm able to get pretty musical with it.
Boss Tuner
I've had this tuner for probably 10 years now. I use this one for my electric guitars and it does what it's supposed to do…keep me in tune. Great floor tuner.
Korg Tuner
I use this pedal for my acoustic instruments and it's fed straight into a direct box. I've been pleasantly surprised with this floor tuner. It's very accurate.
Rolls Matchbox DI
I honestly just bought this because of it's size. It's small and works great as far as I'm concerned. Some guys really get into direct boxes (I'm sure in certain situations it matters more than others) and spend a lot of money on them, but I've never had any issues with grounding or sound, so given this DI barely takes up any space on my board and does what it's supposed to do it seems to do the trick.
Voodoo Lab Pedal Power
I'm currently using this original power supply to power my board. It's a great unit and I've never had any issues with it and it's probably been on my board for nearly 10 years now. I'll probably switch over to the T-Rex Chameleon power supply in the near future only because it has some additional options like 12V outputs that I need for several of my pedals, including the Viper and Replica.
