Neil McDougall

Job: Student

Started playing: April-ish 1999. I left college to go do a job for a website design company, got fired 4 weeks later, and *officially* left college on the day of my final student loan payment, with which, amongst other things, I bought my first proper guitar :)

Main gear: Applause AE-128 - My first guitar purchase, and still played regularly today. Lam spruce top, carb fibre shallow bowl back, passive p/u. Hardly an accoustic tone machine, but I like it :)

DeArmond Jetstar - First electric. Self-bought 20th birthday prezzie; £70 from Sound Control. Scratchy pickups, but who cares when it's cranked through a hot steaming beast of a Marshall? :D

Godin SD - Ahh, my baby. £350, but feels like £800+, IMHO. Really nice neck, good solid maple body, nice sound. Heavy as all hell though. Wouldn't part with it though.

Yamaha RGX420S-D6 - If I want down-tuned heavyness or Floyd Rose acrobatics, I trot out this BEADF#B-tuned beastie. It's (VERY) black, it's got two hot ceramic 'buckers. It sounds like Satan. Wooo~!

Vintage 5-string Bass - I needed a 5-string bass to pair up with my Yammy for recording purposes, so I picked this swanktastic Music Man Stingray-a-like from Merchant City Music in Glasgow for £189.99. Solid ash body, maple neck, active electronics with 3-band EQ, and quite possibly the largest pickup known to humanity. RAWK.

Behringer V-Amp - Yeah, I don't have a real amp. I'd never get to use it anyway, what with all the old folk and whatnot in my street. Besides, it's good enough for me, and provides a feasible direct recording sound for my Korg D8 digital 8-track

Favourite music: Oh, lessee, in order of discovery... Richie Sambora, Slash, Joe Perry, Chad Taylor, James Hetfield, John Petrucci, John Myung, Mike Portnoy, Ty Tabor, Doug Pinnick, Adam Jones, Mikael Akerfeldt... And of course, the usual suspects (Page, Hendrix et al)