CLICK HERE for Hamilton Loomis Band STAGE PLOT

After years of searching and finding the right gear, I've never been happier with the
stuff I use (on AND offstage) than right now! This page is for showing you the COOL
STUFF the band and I have the pleasure of using every day, and the fine folks who
have made it possible...hope you enjoy all of it!! Click on these below for details...

GUITARS      AMPS     EFFECTS      HARMONICA GEAR           

DRUMS       "THE MONSTER" LAPTOP

I am proud to endorse Ernie Ball-Music Man guitars!  The model I currently play is the 25th Anniversary model.  It has a chambered basswood body, mahogany tone block down the center, and a gorgeous curly maple top.  It has custom DiMarzio humbuckers, which are tapped (for single-coil sound) AND a series/parallel switch for tonal versatility.  I also play the Axis Super Sport model, and it has DiMarzio humbuckers which are coil tapped for that single-coil sound.  I can honestly say that Ernie Ball Music Man guitars are the most ergonomic, well-built, best sounding guitars I've ever played.  They are light (6 pounds), and they feature asymmetrical necks which are a little thinner on the underside so it fits perfectly in the hand.  They have locking tuners, tuning-compensated top nuts.  Special thanks to Derek Brooks from Ernie Ball-Music Man for working with me and running such a fantastic company!  Click here for the Music Man website.

I still have my 1975 black Gibson Les Paul Custom, but being almost 10 pounds, after 19 years it has wreaked havoc on my neck and left shoulder.  I got it when I was a kid, so I'll never sell it, but sometimes we need change in our lives. 

Currently I'm also playing a Gretsch Bo Diddley Signature model for my Bo Diddley tribute portion of the show.  Gretsch sent this to me (as per Bo's request) in 2002, and Bo signed it the following year.  It is tuned to open 'E' like Bo, which enables me to get the chugging rhythm/muting that Bo did.  I used standard tuning for my FOX TV clip: click here to check it out.

All my guitars are strung with Dean Markley Strings, gauges 10-46.

I have 2 main amps I use.  One is a custom-made Fargen Blackbird 1x12 combo which I refinished in red tolex.  It was built my my new friend Ben Fargen of Sacramento CA...click here to check out his site.  Its circuit is based on the Fender deluxe, but the power section uses EL34 tubes for a little more mids and crunch.  So it's a hybrid amp, basically 3/4 Fender tone, 1/4 Marshall JCM800.  It's totally overbuilt, so i'm looking forward to many years of gigging without frequent trips to the shop (like my Marshall and my Fenders...read below).  My other is a stock Peavey Classic 50 2X12 combo.  It sounds great, and is built like a tank.  The Classic 50 is the best mass-produced amp I've ever used, straight out-of-the-box.  All my amps are equipped with Eminence speakers.

FELLOW GUITARISTS TAKE NOTE!!  I used the newer Fender amps for a few years until ALL of them broke down on me.  My 2 Hot Rod DeVilles, my Blues Junior, and the Blues Deluxe I used in England all broke down during performances, so I have determined that all newer Fender tube amps are cheaply made with cheap components.  They are not roadworthy and I will never buy another "new series" Fender again (excluding the original point-to-point wired ones).  For my harmonica, I'm using a Line 6 POD straight into the P.A. system...my Fender Blues Junior broke down, so I had to use the POD one night...it was really easy to set up and the tone was even better, so I stuck with it.

My bassist, Kent Beatty from Baton Rouge LA, uses Peavey Cirrus & Roscoe basses thru a TC Electronic RH450 amp with matching 2x10 and 2x12 cabinets. 

I am pretty basic with my overdrive/distortion sounds...I'm currently using an MI Audio "Blue Boy Deluxe" for tone shaping (it has lots of EQ and nice smooth drive), and a Barber "Small Fry Burn Unit" for my main overdrive, courtesy of my friend Randy Jones.  Its best feature is the "dynamics" knob, which is like variable compression.  For Leslie sounds, I use an Arion SCH-1 Stereo Chorus with the speed turned up...you wouldn't think this cheap pedal would sound worth a damn but it blows most Leslie simulators away!  I had it re-housed into a bulletproof casing with new pots, new metal jacks, footswitch, and true bypass by Dereck Tabata at www.tonefreak.com.  I use a Voodoo Labs Tremolo pedal for texture, and I have an Akai Headrush E2 which I use live to loop rhythm guitar behind my solos and to stack harmonies (listen to "Bow Wow" on 'Ain't Just Temporary')...I pipe it thru another amp behind the drummer so he can follow it "on the fly".  Who needs a rhythm guitar?!?  My wireless is a Shure PGX series, and all these are mounted to my Pedaltrain pedalboard.  I am proud to endorse Pedaltrain, which makes the best pedalboards on the market.  They are sturdy steel, and since they have clearance in the back end, I fit a power strip with TWO wall warts, my Dunlop DC power brick, and all the wires UNDERNEATH which frees up the space on top for pedals!  No wasted space whatsoever (and they make 3 sizes).  Thanks to John Chandler at Pedaltrain for the best boards out there, bar none!  (pictures coming soon).  Also special thanks to Ryan Nixon at GuitarEffectsPedals.com for supplying the Pedaltrain, and carrying the best selection of pedals/accessories on the web!

My friend Tom Brannon builds "Lock & Rock" pedals and they are fantastic! The beauty of them is that you never have to bend
down to adjust any parameter on the pedals...they operate on footswitches only. My favorite is the Sour Boost, which is an
overdrive/distortion pedal...he has customized it to include his Sweet Boost (clean boost), and both overdrive and boost levels are
selectable with the foot switches. The tone is amazing!  I supplement my existing rig with this amazing pedal.

My bassist Kent uses a Boss GT-10B multi-effects unit for all his effects.  My saxophonist Stratton Doyle uses a TC Helicon "VoiceLive 2" harmonizer to simulate the sax section.  We got the idea from Fred Vigdor of Average White Band.  The harmonies are fully programmable by pitch and/or key, and its "step" function lets us put multiple harmonies within presets for the song we're playing, so Stratton will advance the steps as the song moves along. 

"Yes, it's a vacuum cleaner" is my most repeated phrase at shows lately. I wanted to play harp and guitar at the same time, but
with the same "Chicago-style" dirty tone. I found a vacuum cleaner attachment at my folks' house in Galveston and the harp fit
right in it! Chip Todd made a connector for me and now it fits on the end of my Shaker mic (dynamic). No pun intended, but it
doesn't SUCK!! I play Hohner Special 20 harps mainly, and occasionally Hohner Golden Melodys.  I now proudly endorse Shaker Harmonica Microphones!  I play harp through a Line 6 Mini POD, powered by my pedalboard.  I used to use an amp for many years, but the POD is tiny, flexible, programmable, and has a noise gate (to reduce feedback).

My touring drummer, Ryan Cortez, uses a Yamaha Rock Tour Custom Kit, and uses Sabian cymbals. Pictures coming soon...

We have also endorsed HP Custom Drums, based in Houston TX, and McChristian Custom drums, made by Mark McChristian of Liberty Hill TX.

This is my old laptop, an Acer Aspire 1712.  It is a 'desktop replacement' computer, with a 3.0 Ghz Pentium 4 processor, 2 GB ram, 120 GB hard drive (desktop size), tons of ports, a subwoofer underneath, and a 17" screen.  I recorded most of 'Ain't Just Temporary' on this machine using Cakewalk SONAR 6 Producer Edition, an external 200 GB Seagate hard drive, an Echo AudioFire12 interface, a Langevin Dual Vocal Combo stereo mic preamp, and a single Shure SM-57.  I used Stylus RMX for most of the drum loops, and a cool (free) plug-in called EPhonic LO-FI for some cool distortion effects on the bass and vocals.  Click here to read more about the recording.  I also take the computer on the road with me for net surfing, email, website updates, etc.  It has been with me for 6 years and has been outdated, but it's still a very powerful machine!