I love it when I hear a guitar player who can do things with the instrument
that no one else can. I'm sure there are many guitarists out there who
qualify, but in my universe the two that stand out in that respect are Kevin
Breit and Amos Garrett (and even Amos had a little trouble covering his
landmark solo from "Midnight at the Oasis" last time I saw him with Maria
Muldaur). But last night I saw Johnny V from Calgary doing his thing and it
was like combining Amos and Kevin and telling them to stick to the blues,
though JV himself did drift into some jazzy moments...hard to resist when
you've got bass-meister Ian de Souza on board. Not only was he getting a
great sound out of his old Firebird, but he was playing through an amp that
sounded phenomenal...one that he designed himself. The sound is clear and
crunchy all at once - with a real punchy bass. To die for. He calls it the
V-Verb and he tell me it has one 10" and one 12" speaker - I've never heard
of such a thing!