so, I went to heaven, I mean guitar center today. Just thought I'd tell you all about the gear I tried. First thing I pick up is a used schecter C1+, it was a beautiful guitar, and I was surprised it was used. then I plugged it into an amp, and to be perfectly honest, I wasn't overly impressed. I think my gibson still sounds better. that was really the only guitar I played, as I'm not really looking for any new guitars right now, I love my gibson. so I picked up a gibson sg special faded to try out some amps. first up was a marshall MG30. eww. it wasn't all that great. but the next thing I tried was a marshall MG100DFX half stack, and I was a little surprised when it didn't suck. actually, I think it sounded pretty damn good! definately would be a good choice for someone's first half stack. ok, next I run over to a B-52 AT212, flip the power switch, and the light doesn't light up.. I was a little disappointed, but I quickly moved on to other amps. next I go to my favorite room in the place, the semi-sound-proof room where they keep the real expensive amps. I first go for the B-52 AT100 half stack, to see this one isn't plugged in either! I was a little bummed, as that was my favorite amp I've ever played. oh well, I move on to the marshall mode four, which, last time I had played, I had fallen in love with, but this time, I just couldn't find a tone I really liked with it for some reason. I move over to a marshall JCM2000 DSL, and found some nice tone with that beast. wasn't exactly the tone I want, but it came close. Then I move over to a mesa, it said "single rectifier solo head" on it. I plug in and start playing it through the mesa 2x12 cab it was plugged into. The last time I played a mesa rectifier was quite a long time ago, so I had almost forgotten the tone of one. anyway, I mess with the knobs for a few seconds, play a chord, and then said "I want this amp!" so versatile with it's raw, vintage, and modern switch. my particular favorite was the modern. it was precisely the tone I want! too bad the price tag was about $1270 for the head alone. but anyway, I at least know now that my dream amp comes down to a mesa rectifier, or a B-52 AT-100. when I'm finally able to afford one I'll go back and make the employees plug em both in so I can try them back to back before making a decision.

I also went over to try some pedals, but their whole boss pedal display wasn't working.. it had a little sign saying it wasn't and everything. so I didn't get to try any. oh well.

so there was my day. I'd still take my gibson SG and peavey XXX over almost everything under $1000. So I guess I'm just a lucky duck, aren't I?