Not entirely sure how I stumbled across these, but I picked up a set of
Mick's Picks at Guitar Center one day (NFI). They are a composite felt that is, to my limited experience, absolutely nothing like actual felt. I play them sideways, using the shoulder rather than the point.
I like them for two reasons. First, they take a lot of the harsh brittleness out of my Eastman 315 and give a much softer tone. Second, they aren't particularly loud, which means I can practice without disturbing my wife, who despises the sound of the mandolin. I am mostly a basement player and wouldn't imagine these would be useful in a bluegrass situation where you are trying to maximize your volume.
Relative to your Gretsch, there is a guy on one of the Gretsch websites (again NFI) who is obsessed with the Brian Setzer tone. To the extent that he builds stomp boxes that try to cop that tone. A big factor in the Setzer sound is the Roland R-301 SpaceEcho. I just this week received a pedal from this guy, the
Mystery Brain that combines his Brain pre-amp (modeled after the SpaceEcho) with a digital tape echo. I get a nice slapback vibe with the Echo and the Brain side is just a great pre-amp for enhancing the dynamics of your picking. Good luck with taming that beast!
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