[maxsmith]

What a sound!

I have seen Tab play twice, once at a blues fest and once at a club where my band opened for him.

At the fest in Eureka Springs, Tab followed a female guitarist/singer who was a good player, esp slide, but whose sound was awash (and obscured) in reverb, delay, stereo "fattening" and other effects.

Tab comes on with a guitar, a cord, a couple of Fender tube amps with the reverb on "0", and a great voice and KILLED!

He had the same setup in a club setting - once again he played with no reverb and straight-to-the-amp clean to dirty (not fuzzy) tones - dynamics and tone all controlled with his hands and the knobs on the Thinline. Thankfully the soundman was good and didn't "improve" Tab's sound by adding anything - he just made it louder. The presence and clarity of the guitar in the room was so refreshing, esp. after hearing so many other "blues" players with their fancy Strats and PRS's, modeling amps, 5 different vintage and boutique overdrives, and tons of delays, reverbs, etc.

Man, he made me really want to get back to the guitar and the amp and dig everything I could out of it - inspirational!

If you have a chance to see Tab Benoit - take it.