Danny Prosser Benefit

I have had the flu for 2 days and it couldn't have come at a worse time for me. Today was the gig for Danny Prosser at the Westport Trainwreck and we were scheduled to play a set, which we did. But I had/have a real nice little fever and got out of bed at the last minute just to do the show and then hustled back home to bed so I missed several of the bands that followed us. The fever made me pretty weak so my playing left a little to be desired but i guess i wasnt horrible but I wanted to be at my best and I wasnt.

Guitar Amps

A few months ago I bought a new Peavey Joe Satriani model JSX half-stack guitar amp and I really like it a lot but I have found that sometimes I question the purchase and have had to defend it to others once in a while. The amp was a special build version with some cosmetic differences from the original stock amps but no real tonal differences that im aware of. After many years of playing in bands using cheap amps (because i was raising a family and school clothes are a higher priority than guitar amps) I found myself in the position of finally being able to get a good amp. I had decided to buy a Marshall even before i started trying out any amps because thats the standard and it is what all the great ones play or have played. Funny thing though,; I tried out several different models and none of them appealed to me. The JVM-410 has a decent clean channel but I didnt like the distortion at all. The Vintage modern was just plain aweful. i tried an old JCM-800 and it was pretty good but you need to use a fuzz pedal to get any kind of real sustain and gain for a real rock sound. I then tried other upscale brands like the Diesil Einstein, which I loved by the way, but the head was 3300! I tried a couple of Soldanos and they too were pretty pricey and the only one I liked had only one channel. I tried the JSX peavey and liked it right off but dismissed it because it was a Peavey but I found myself going back to it after each time i tried out another amp to reference the two and every freaking time I liked the JSX more! Finally, I had to face the fact that It was really what I wanted even though it wasnt a marshall. I know a real fine guitar player named Jeff Bartholic who used a JSX for a while so I contacted him and asked his opinion about it and Jeff said he loved it. He dont have a JSX anymore and normally that would make me wonder if he really did like it, but Jeff has used a ton of different amps since I first met him so that's not an issue here and I respect his opinion on amps a lot. My good friend and guitar player Dan Ralston, a huge Joe Satriani fan, advised me to buy the JSX and this suprised me because Dan is a bonified Marshall Man but he loves the JSX sound and his advice was the deciding factor for me. Even though I didnt want price to be an issue in buying this amp it was somewhat.
The Marshall JVM-410 Head only was 1700 dollars.
The Marshall Vintage Modern head only was 1700 dollars.
The new Jcm-800 reissue head is 2083 dollars.
The Soldano heads were well over 2000 dollars.
The Diesil Einstein head only was 3300 dollars.
All these prices did not include a speaker cabinet.

In the end the "special Namm Show" version of the Peavey JSX was 1999 dollars and that included the speaker cabinet. Joe Satriani is known throughout the guitar world as one of the best guitar players in history with legions of devoted followers. There were only two of these "special" JSX models built according to Peaveys artist relations people. Joe Satriani has one and I have the other.
When I add it all up it was the best choice available for me at the time and with the money I had to work with. And I want to note that my devoted beautiful wife Crystal was the one person that made it possible by alloting me the monies and not making me feel like a schmuck for spending it on myself.
Beside, Im going to buy a Marshall cabinet soon and try out the head with that so i can have the great JSX sound and the great Marshall look all at the same time!!