I'm using a couple of different guitars and basses depending on the style of Music I'm actually playing. Although at MelanCore I play with Chapman Guitars exclusively, I usually prefer Gibson's traditional guitars, or Fender. It is always about reinterpreting old proven. With a Gibson Les Paul and a Fender USA Stratocaster you can reproduce most classic sounds in the studio. I also have a PRS Custom 22. This one has an incredibly good and stable tremolo system, which I really appreciate. Last year, I bought another Gibson Midtown Standard guitar. These I have equipped with very thin strings and I'm really happy with the sound. Generally, I think it's important to improve the sound of the old ladies a bit. Many of my guitars have locking tuners. Of course this does not improve the sound, but it makes the string change much more enjoyable. Often it is little things that make an already great guitar even better. That's why I've built new Seymour Duncan pickups into my Les Paul.

I also own two Champman ML-2 out of the first 250 ones.

Unfortunately the pickups in these guitars were absolutely horrible for what I wanted to do. So I loaded both guitars with Custom Made Dimarzio Humbuckers and some EMG electronics.

One of them now features a set of raw nickel Titan pickups.

The other ML-2 fetaures a set of black chrome Gravity Storm Humbuckers. Both of them do have an active EMG Mid Boost called the SPC.

The desition which amp is my go to amp for bass guitar is pretty easy - it's Markbass. I've got an anniversary MicroMark 300 top which goes together with a single 4 Ohm Eden cab (EX110) for deep bass tone.

In 2018 I started experimenting with the new Trace Elliot ELF and in 2019 I upgraded with a TC Electronic BC208. The tone does not have the same brilliance as the Markbass setup but is still loud enough and weighs less.

For electric guitar it's much more complicated to find an amplifter, that can handle all the sounds I need.

Today I use an Engl e530 preamp together with an Engl e810 poweramp plugged in an oversized Mesa Boogie SlantStraight 412 cabinet. The two channels of the amp cover pretty much all the sounds I might need for the MelanCore setup. The TC Electronic G-System effects unit does everything the amp cannot do.

After owning a Marshall and even two different Mesa Boogie combo amps I also fell in love with the Peavey 6505 mini head for home recording and practicing. At home I still use TonePrint enabled TC Electronics pedals to improve my sound.

I first picked up a Sandberg bass because of the fantastic bass that my teacher Udo Kistner was playing for decades.

The sound my of first Electra bass was pretty cool but I needed more bass and so I got a Reggie Worthy signature model. This completely passive bass was a gamechanger because it had the perfect sound for what I'm playing.

A few years later I got myself a 1993 Sandberg S3 bass that looks pretty much like Udo's one. Unfortunately the sound was horrible. So I changed the original pickups to Delano Soapbars.

Now the bass has a very deep and rich tone. The next step might be to remove the frets. I think the old neck thru bass will sound amazing as a fretless.

For me it is still very exciting to get new instruments.

After buying my third Taylor Acoustic Guitar (114e) I wanted to try other sounds and got myself a Geierleier and a Cister.

some more stringed intruments

Percussion is fun for a musician because it is all

about the rhythm and you don‘t have to worry about

chords and harmonies. After discovering Heidi Joubert on youtube I absolutely had to have a cajon. I found it relatively easy to accompany a band with such a box, but it is still so much better than I think it would ever be. When I met her at the Frankfurt Music Fair in 2016 and even joined a session on Heidi's own Roland cajon, it really was an honor.

I'm still learning, but I've expanded my fundus with other instruments. In addition to some percussion, which can also be perfectly combined with the cajon, I have a Zenko tankdrum. I also discovered this type of percussion via Heidi. Since I can not afford handpan I limited myself to the much cheaper tankdrum and already recorded a first video with it. I hope I have the money for a Metal Sounds Spacedrum in 2021.

some of my percussion instruments

the amazing Heidi Joubert

great clip about Bodhran & Bones