The most important addition to my rig has been my Ladner G1 Hellion. This 100 watt, 2-channel, 6L6 head was amazing to record and i used it for every single song on The Color Line CD along with my trusty Bogner Uberschall. While the Uber can oftentimes have too much gain, the Hellion on the other hand is a lower gain amp and the mix of the two was a total win for me tone-wise. Our tuning is quite low and if you're not careful, it can quickly become "muddy". The G1 was responsible for enhancing the articulation of my riffing while still maintaining our signature bottom end girth. For leads and chunkier stuff, i used my Maxon OD in front to accentuate picking attack and gain. One of biggest lessons Matt and i learned in the studio was that you don't need excessive gain to get a nice thick guitar tone that has "balls".
The clean channel of the Hellion is so good that i don't think i do it justice, hence why there are so many amazing country guitarists that use this head exclusively. Clicking on my Maxon OD while using the G1's clean channel gives you an entirely different tasteful dirty tone as can be heard on our songs "Front Street" and "Sanctuary". If you're thinking of hitting up Andrew or DC at Ladner Engineering to snag a G1, take my advice and get the matching 1x12 cube cab; It's freaking amazing. I used this cab to record ALL of my guitar tracks for The Color Line because it sounds THAT GOOD. The EVM12L in that cabinet is a perfect match to the Hellion head. There is a rumor that the guys at Ladner might be coming out with a new 4x12 cabinet in the near future, if so? I'll have one, no doubt. DC and Andrew are wonderful folks to work with and the customer service is very personal and top notch.
Below is a pic of the current settings im running on my G1. You'll be able to hear this beast at our FESTIVAL OF FIRE 2 CD release event on Saturday, January 16th.





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