Fretboard Anatomy

The $2k Gig Rig Challenge

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Two years ago, someone broke into my car and stole all my gear. My guitars were in the house, but everything else was taken.

So I filed an insurance claim and went shopping. Curiously, things were neatly divided into two distinct categories:

  1. No-brainer decisions where I simply re-bought the exact thing I had before.
  2. Things where the price-to-performance ratio had made quantum leaps forward.

This latter category was most pronounced in the area of mixers & powered speakers—suddenly the market was flooded with options that were both better AND cheaper. In the last few years, this trend has extended to new areas of gear.

So I assembled a crew of gear-savvy friends and asked them:

“All your gear was stolen. You have $2k to put together a rig that’ll allow you to play the kinds of gigs you normally play. What do you buy?”

I asked a few electric players, a few acoustic players, and a few who do both.

Table of Contents

Meet The Crew

Dave Sarkis

Eric Justen

Phil Roach

Mike Pinto

Lincoln Smith

Jasper Smith

Josh Skaja

Design Philosophies

  • No disposable gear. “I don’t want to own anything that I couldn’t either a) play forever, b) sell for a reasonable depreciation, or c) keep as a backup.” — Josh Skaja
  • Get the core right, upgrade the rest later. “In my rig, that’s the mixer (& its onboard amp/effects modeler) and the iPad that controls it.” — Dave Sarkis
  • Invest in a great amp. “The world’s best guitar through a lousy amp still sounds pretty lousy. A lousy guitar through a good amp sounds pretty good.” — Mike Pinto
  • Get the right guitar. “The instrument is the most important component of your gear; you should feel a slight surge of electric excitement when you hold it in your hands. You should want to play it.” — Phil Roach
  • Don’t let your gear wreck the gig. “I’ve got strap locks to keep the guitar off the floor, spare strings for when they break, and even a backup if my amp fails. With the first money I made, I’d buy backup volume & tone pots, a pickup selector, and a soldering iron.” — Eric Justen
  • Clarity enables sincerity. “To get the audience to feel something, you need to let them into your world. That starts with a clean sound from a good mic and a good powered speaker.” — Jasper Smith
  • Be strategic to build a rig without compromise. “I’d specifically book the kind of restaurant/wine bar/hotel lobby type gigs where I could get by with just the Fishman Loudbox Performer. Then I’d use the money from those gigs to add powered mains for noisier bars & clubs.” — Lincoln Smith

Surprising Ideas

  • “Guitars & speakers are disposable—play some gigs with them, use the money from the gigs to buy better stuff, give the old stuff to the kid down the street.” — Dave Sarkis
  • “No tuner. In time I would add one but as someone who has played violin in professional orchestras, I think it would behoove guitarists to learn how to tune correctly by ear. The most exacting classical musicians—who play some of the most technically demanding works ever written—tune their instrument to a given pitch from an oboe. I know it is hard on a loud bar stage but if money were tight there is no way I want to spend it on something as boring and lazy as a tuner.” — Phil Roach
  • “The Graphtech Ghost pickup system is one of the first upgrades I’d make with money from gigs. Its acoustic/electric/MIDI outputs are inseparable from what I do.” — Mike Pinto
  • “The people I play with most often treat modelers with suspicion, so even though I love the Line 6 HX Stomp, I usually bring a traditional amp.” — Eric Justen
  • “In-ear monitors are a must on more than half the sideman gigs I play. Even at my solo & duo gigs I run one side instead of a traditional monitor.” — Josh Skaja
  • “I thought the budget would be more constraining, but I was shocked at how quickly I could cover my bases and get back to a great sound.” —Jasper Smith
  • “Me first—in order to be generous with my performance, I have to be selfish about hearing myself well.” —Lincoln Smith

Electric Guitars

As expected from their quotes above, Phil spent the highest percentage of his gear allowance on the guitar (50%) and Dave spent the least (15%).

Mike immediately replaced the stock pickups & selector switch on his guitar, and probably spent some extra time looking for a 4-knob/large pickguard Telecaster Deluxe to make the future upgrade to the Graphtech Ghost system easier to manage.

Phil, Dave, & Eric all opted for a Strat-style guitar, and they all cited its versatility as being a key factor.

Given a little more wiggle room (or maybe a few gigs lined up that I could play without in-ears), I probably would’ve joined Mike in choosing a Tele, namely a used Brad Paisley signature model. As it stands, I picked the PRS because it’s versatile, will make an excellent second guitar someday, and won’t require a setup straight out of the box.

Amps

No surprise here either: Mike spent the greatest percentage of his budget investing in a great amp (54%).

Phil’s pick (Fender ’68 Custom Deluxe) was also Mike’s second choice. If you can find a used one that’s local pickup (ie you don’t have to pay for shipping), they’re a great deal.

Eric chose the Bassbreaker over the similarly priced Blues Junior for its XLR out… and to avoid the stigma attached to the Blues Junior (which is really popular with non-pro guitarists).

Dave & I both chose to go the modeling route. This seems inextricably tied to the fact that we’re usually the one supplying the PA too. (And/or in my case: everyone onstage is on in-ears.)

Dave’s PA speaker choice reflects his philosophy of “disposable” speakers, and mine reflects my philosophy of “no dead end gear.” The Altos are great bang for the buck, but not a long-term pick for a discerning listener. The QSC CP12 is essentially the first-generation industry standard K12, for half the price.

Effects

  • Boss DD-5 delay, Lovepedal Eternity overdrive (Phil)
  • Boss ME-50 multi effects (Mike)
  • Tech 21 Ritchie Kotzen Fly Rig multi effects (Eric)
  • Line 6 HX Stomp multi effects (Josh)
  • RCF M 18’s Overloud effects (Dave)
  • TC Electronic Spark Mini booster (Lincoln and Jasper)
  • (for links to specific picks, check out the spreadsheet)

Mike, Eric, Josh, & Dave all went for multi effects units. Could you get better sounds with dedicated units? Probably, but that’s gonna break the budget.

The Fly Rig Eric chose also includes an analog amp-sim as a backup in case his tube amp fails.

Phil listed delay & overdrive as his can’t-live-without effects, and put the Pigtronix Disnortion Micro as his OD pick. But moments later he said: “I have a big pedal board, but for most of quarantine I’ve just plugged into the Lovepedal Eternity & Boss DD5 and it feels perfect. Honestly that simpler setup makes me play more musically.”

Lincoln & Jasper both love the Spark Mini. Sure, it’s just a booster, but its momentary/latching footswitch is wonderful for transitioning from soloing to singing.

Acoustic Guitars

Dave & I both chose smaller guitars that’d make good couch companions once we’ve upgraded to nicer machines.

Jasper owns nicer guitars now, but spent years gigging with this exact model. Lincoln chose a cheaper import version of the Gibson he currently plays.

If I was strictly an acoustic player, I’d forego the PRS & HX Stomp in favor of a nicer guitar like the Martin D-13E and an EQ pedal like the Boss GE-7.

Mixers, PA Speakers and/or Acoustic Amps

Dave & I both built rigs that could get plenty loud enough for anything shy of a full-band club date. Jasper & Lincoln both built rigs that emphasized portability & expandability.

Perhaps it’s unsurprising that Dave & I mostly play dates where we’re responsible for 100% of the sound, whereas city dwellers Jasper & Lincoln play a lot of gigs where they run their own monitors but then plug into the house’s distributed sound.

Jasper’s budget has enough to spare that he’s really only one gig away from adding a powered main to play a noisier room.

Lincoln’s choice of the Fishman Loudbox Performer was echoed by Mike, who uses the smaller Loudbox Artist for amplifying the acoustic side of the Graphtech Ghost rig.

Dave spent more on his mixer than anything else (35%), and once you add in the speakers, the PA consumes fully 60% of his spend.

In keeping with my philosophy of “no disposable gear,” I chose the cheapest mixer I could find that still had professional features like 3-band EQ & Lexicon reverb. This’ll get upgraded soon, but it’ll be a handy option for wedding gigs where I need to be set up in two locations (even when performing as a duo—there are 4 XLR ins).

Wrap Up

As guitarists, it’s all too easy to go down a gear rabbit hole, watching demo videos & scouring the internet for deals instead of playing our instruments.

We made this post to show you how professionals think about their gear, and what they consider to be the minimum to get the job done.

My hope here is that this will help you discern between “buying gear to enhance your playing” vs “indulging in the parallel hobby of gear research.”

To be super clear, I am not opposed to nerding out on gear, and my life is unequivocally better for some of the purchases I’ve made.

But since those fifteen minutes spent contemplating a new overdrive are fifteen minutes you could’ve spent improving your skills, it’s good to be honest with yourself.

For more on this topic, check out Five Pieces Of Gear That Will Actually Make You Better At Guitar.

See you out there,

—Josh

About Josh Frets

Hey, I'm Josh. I write the best damn guitar newsletter on the whole friggin' internet. Find out more here.