Wow, I just read a post of mine from 2004. Sometime shortly after, I did actually go out and try tube amps until I found one I loved. I ended up getting a Marshall Triple Super Lead 60 watt combo with a single 12" speaker and spring reverb. After playing all sorts of amps, I realized I prefer the body and grittiness of a Marshall. When I play the Marshall, I like to use the amp's two built in distortion channels instead of using pedals. I almost bought a used Fender Evil Twin which had a sound much like the TSL 601, but I ultimately fell in love with the Marshall. I did recently pick up an Epiphone Valve Junior, which has a great vintage sound. While I love my Marshall, it is a lot easier to grab the little Valve Junior if I am running over someone's house and we're just going to hang out. With the Epiphone, I do like to use my Marshall Gov'ner pedal for distortion. Back when I posted in 2004, I was playing on a Johnson copy of a Fender stratocaster. I had changed out the pickups on my strat copy and replaced them with Fender vintage noiseless pickups. I still have that strat copy, but have since found a new love. Now I play almost entirely on an Epiphone Les Paul Special that I modified. I changed out the pickups on that pup, and installed locking, auto-trim tuners. I installed Seymour Duncan Pearly-Gates (humbucker) at the bridge, and a Gibson P-94 single coil at the neck. I love my Pearly-Gates. The P-94 is a good heavy single coil which is great when you need that sound, but I do find I lean towards playing more with the Pearly-Gates.

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"And so I throw the windows wide
And call to you across the sky"