Scott Henderson Discussion

[ianvomsaal]

Hi Scott,
Couple questions - 1st off, I'm also a graduate of Florida Atlantic University (Classical and Jazz Guitar Studies). One of my former jazz guitar instructors happened to be one of your early guitar students from Palm Beach (Charles Carey - absolutely one of the most knowledgeable and supportive guitar instructors I've ever had, not to mention one hell of a player - he truly kicks ass in everything he does - Charles also went to FAU, and then graduated from University of Miami . . . ALA Pat Metheny).
Anyhow, my question is about gear, first and foremost Amps:
I've recently started seriously playing "Rock and Fusion" and I'm very inexperienced when it comes to guitar amps (I'm kinda use to my ES-175 and a small clean polytone type amp - for Rock/Fusion I'm currently playing Les Pauls and Strats/Teles). Unfortunately most of the boutique and higher end amps I read about aren't readily available for me to try out around here in Tampa, FL (i.e. - Custom Audio OD-100 Classic, Fargen, ect). I'm wondering what amp you might recommend, which has a good "Super Reverb" type clean, and yet has a real singing overdriven lead tone, similar to yours, all capable of being played at somewhat lower band volumes without much tone loss.
I recently purchased a Fender 410 Deville, which has an okay clean tone, but it's overdriven lead tone is about as musical as a wet fart, and I can't play this amp above 3.5 (with a band) because it's just too damn loud (and it's only a 60 watt amp) - I'd love to be able to really crank the amp to get those tubes saturated, but I just can't or I blow the band away.
Charles Carey likes the Bogner Shiva, and I have been looking into the Fargen Bordeaux (though I don't have access to any around here) - any suggestions???
Perhaps I should just be using another kind of pedal for my lead and overdriven rhythm tones (SD9)??? I have an Ibanez TS9, and I sometimes mix that with a DOD-308 for some articulation and tightness . . . works okay sometimes, but I do need something a bit more edgy and full - and at times I really like the Marshall Plexi or the Super Lead tone, but I just can't play the amp as loud as I'd need to in order to get that tone (again, I'd just blow away the band) - perhaps I should get an attenuator??? Does any of this make sense???

Anyhow, thanks so much for all your time . . .

- Ian C.T. vom Saal

Ps. Though I've read that you hate your tone on VTT, I actually really like your tone at the end of "Everglades" -- that's a great tune by the way.
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