This month on Bought & Sold, the Texan blues-rock phenom Ally Venable checks in to discuss all things gear, from first loves and most-prized possessions, to the answer to age-old philosophical quandaries on matters such as electric guitars and their pickups.
It is the story of Venable’s life in gear, so it is only fitting that we finish with a walk-through of her rig, too.
What was your first serious guitar?
“My very first guitar was a Mexican Strat from my dad and then I got a 50th or 60th anniversary Stratocaster with a sunburst finish. That was probably my first serious guitar. Then, I’m trying to think, I got a Gibson Les Paul.
“That’s the one I use today. I got it when I was 18 years old, and then I got a Gibson Custom Shop Les Paul with all this gold hardware on it. But I actually traded that guitar for a non-reverse Firebird from 1965.
“When I got my first guitar, I wanted to accompany my singing just for fun, you know? And just to see if I could play songs I liked at the time, and then it kind of snowballed into, ‘Oh, let me see if I can play this thing live in front of people,’ and then, ‘Let me see if I can form a band and play with other musicians.’ And one thing led to another…”
What was the last guitar you bought and why?
“I think the Firebird was the last guitar I got. I just liked the look of it, you know? We took the Bigsby off so I could play it live and the intonation would be a bit better. It has P-90s in it, and I just liked how it sounded. I think that’s what drew me to it – how it felt and how it played. It’s almost like in Harry Potter when the wand chooses the wizard. It’s kind of the same thing with guitars, right?
“It’s not a one-size-fits-all type of instrument. Everybody’s hands are different, everybody’s essence is different, everybody’s influences are different. And, for me, the guitars I have now and the gear I have now, I feel like I’ve honed in a really cool sound.”
What’s the most incredible find or bargain you’ve had when buying gear?
Maybe this is a hoarding problem, but I try to keep my gear as much as I can without having to sell it
“I would probably say my Analog Man King of Tone pedal, I’ve used it for years. My good friend Devon Allman gifted it to me when he recorded with me on my Heart of Fire album.
“We co-wrote a song together, and he produced and played lead on it. After he was done in the studio, he’s like, ‘Hey, do you want this pedal?’ And I was like, ‘Oh my God, that would be awesome.’ It just sounds so good.”
Have you ever sold a guitar that you now intensely regret letting go of?
“Maybe this is a hoarding problem, but I try to keep my gear as much as I can without having to sell it. Whenever I do receive something, it’s a special moment. So I try to save that moment with all the guitars that I have. I have quite a few guitars – a lot of guitars, actually.”
What’s your best guitar-buying tip?
“Play the guitar first before you buy it, or if you’re feeling on the edge, I guess you could buy it without playing it. But I would say get a feel for it and [ask yourself] what are your intentions with buying it? What do you want to achieve with this guitar and does it make you feel creative? Does it inspire you? Does it make you want to write a song or play a cool riff? Check the price tag, too!”
When was the last time you stopped to look in a guitar-shop window or browsed online and what were you looking at?
“I look at Sweetwater, I look at Reverb, Facebook Marketplace all the time. The last guitar shop I was at was in Garland, Texas, at Jimmy Wallace Guitars – they have an amazing selection. That’s one of my favourite shops of all time. I just browse and see what’s there.
“I like looking at vintage guitars a lot, you know? Old-school, like Les Pauls and Strats. But even some of the newer stuff is pretty cool, like the reissues of a lot of the old classic guitars. The other day I saw a Gibson Les Paul, but it was, like, real sparkly and pink. I thought that was a pretty guitar.”
If forced to make a choice, would you rather buy a really good guitar and a cheap amp or a cheap electric guitar and a really good guitar amp?
“Oh, can I make customisations to the cheap guitar? I would do that. I don’t know, I guess it would depend on how it sounds. I think price sometimes doesn’t matter if the guitar and the amp sound good to you.
“But a cheap guitar and a really good amp, I would say – I would get the cheap guitar and a really good amp, and then make some customisations to the cheap guitar, maybe change out the pickups, change out the tuners. I think that would do the trick.”
If you could only use humbuckers or single coils for the rest of your career, which would it be and why?
“That’s hard, because I play both, and I love them equally. Hmm, humbuckers with a coil-tap! Yeah, I’ll do that.”
Ally’s Go-To Rig
“I use a Category 5 Andrew amp. I just love those amps, they have a great sound. I run through the clean channel on that amp and right now I’m using a half stack with it to get a big, thick sound, you know?
“Pedals-wise, I have a [Vox] Jimi Hendrix Anniversary 1969 wah pedal, and, because it only takes batteries, we drilled a hole in the bottom to attach it to my power bank. The power bank I use is [a Big Joe Stomp Box Company iSO8] lithium battery that I charge all my pedals from, so I don’t have to rely on the power of the venue – the power at venues changes constantly.”
“Right next to the wah is my Analog Man King Of Tone pedal, and then I have a [MXR] Carbon Copy Analog delay, and a cool [Midnight Vibe] Uni-Vibe [style] pedal by Rick Weaver, and it sounds so good. It’s definitely like that Jimi Hendrix vibe. It has a little light bulb in there, and you can adjust the level or the amount of intensity, as well as the speed at which the wave is fluctuating.
“I also have a Keeley Monterey pedal that I use for an octave Uni-Vibe, and it also has a fuzz feature. It just sounds really cool if you combine the fuzz with the Uni-Vibe sound and get that Hendrix tone. And there’s also a [TU-3W] Boss tuner to end the chain with.
“For guitars, I’ve been rotating between my 1990 Gibson Les Paul Limited Colours Edition and my Jimmy Wallace Fiesta Red S-Type. I just got a Flying V by Epiphone, which is the ‘Love Drops’ Jimi Hendrix signature guitar. I love that guitar.”
- Money & Power is out now via Ruf.
- This article first appeared in Guitarist. Subscribe and save.
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