Publication - Gearphoria

Transcription

9
9
L I S T E N
VOLUME 3, NUMBER 1 u SEP-OCT 2014
www.gearphoria.com
W I T H
Y O U R
E Y E S
TM
a wrightside media publication
ALSO INSIDE: Summer NAMM, Jon Herington and more...
COVER STORY
Lzzy Hale talks gear,
and life post-Grammy
QUICK TAKE
Marco Benevento sings
on new album
LIST-ERIA!
The Top 10 boutique
effects of the current
decade - Part 1
COLLECTION
The stellar gear horde of
Satellite’s Adam Grimm
GEAR REVIEWS
Protocaster 60s Single Cut
OBNE Black Fountain
Dwarfcraft Memento
VISUAL SOUND
Behind the curtain with
founder Bob Weil
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9
Blake Wright
Publisher/Editor-In-Chief
Contributing Editor
Holly Wright
Special Contributors
Alison Richter
Adam Grimm
Bart Provoost
James Lebihan
Saul Koll
Creative
Seatonism - Josh Seaton
Cartoonist
Rytis Daukantas
Design consulting
Robert Macli
8
GEARPHORIA SEP/OCT 2014
Contact Gearphoria - [email protected]
Advertising inquiries - [email protected]
Ad specs and rates available upon request.
www.gearphoria.com
Gearphoria is a free digital magazine published bimonthly by
WrightSide Media, Houston, TX.
Mailing Address:
WrightSide Media
ATTN: Gearphoria
PO Box 840035
Houston, TX 77284
COVER: Lzzy Hale photo by Rob Fenn
GEARPHORIA is the property of WrightSide Media. All rights reserved. Copyright 2014. No content
of this digital publication can be republished without the express consent of WrightSide Media.
LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
G
earphoria almost didn’t happen. About two and a half years
ago, when I decided to shutter
What’s That Dude Play? I told myself
if I could find a way to keep supporting boutique builders via an editorial
product that didn’t require daily updates
to a website I would consider giving
it a whirl. I had been directed to a few
digital-only magazines that offered a
sort of analog experience online, with
page flip animation, big photos and
long-form content.
After perusing a handful of those, I
thought that if I could offer the same
style of product, on a quarterly basis, I
could stay in the game... so to speak.
As I started working on what would
become Gearphoria, no fewer than
three products with similar intent sprang
up from the 1s and 0s of the world
wide web. I got discouraged. They
were going to beat me to the punch.
My product wasn’t ready. It was about
this time when Holly kicked me in the
rear, looked me in the eye and told me,
“Yours won’t be like theirs. It will be
better.” That cheered me up.
Flash forward to today, and Gearphoria is set to begin its third year. Those
other magazines either found their own,
different voice or simply slipped quietly
into the ether.
I left my day job in April. After 16plus years working as a journalist for
the same newspaper, I decided to bring
my passion front and center and give
Gearphoria the shot it deserves. The
first step in that process was taking it
from a quarterly to a bimonthly starting
with this issue. The second step was a
top-to-bottom redesign of the magazine,
adding new voices and making it easier
on the eyes.
This is Gearphoria Mk II. Our veteran
columnists Bart Provoost (pedals) and
Adam Grimm (amps) are now joined by
luthier extraordinaire Saul Koll (guitars)
and tech guru James Lebihan (technology). We’ve added new recurring features - List-eria! and Quick Take - and
we also now have the option of adding
video content into the mix.
Specific to this issue, we sit down with
Grammy winner Lzzy Hale of Halestorm
and Visual Sound boss Bob Weil. We
review new gear from Protocaster, Old
Blood Noise Endeavors and more.
So sit back, grab your beverage of
choice and dig in. I truly hope you like
what we’ve done... and what we’ll continue to do... now every two months.
Thank you so much for your continued support. We wouldn’t be here
without you!
Publisher/Editor-in-Chief, Gearphoria
9
Contents
VOLUME 3, NUMBER 1 u SEP-OCT 2014
DEPARTMENTS
60 CYCLE HUM
12
POINT TO POINT
18
GRIMM’S REALITY
20
THE CHRONI-KOLL
22
THE WAYBACK MACHINE
24
WORKBENCH CONFIDENTIAL 26
LIST-ERIA!
28
AXE FORENSICS
59
GEAR REVIEWS
60
ALBUM REVIEWS
66
Prototypes of Kickstarter failure surface on eBay, PRS
unveils lower watt Archon, #thankyoufarmer and this
issue’s Track List
Are builders that goop their circuits hiding something?
You bet they are
When you mix it up, things open up
Luthier Saul Koll talks about what inspires him
The wonderfully wacky Gizmotron
Productivity starts with useful machines
Part one of our look at the Top 10 small shop pedals
of the current decade
Jon Herrington breaks down his Gibson CS336
We test drive a Protocaster ‘60 Single Cut, the new
Old Blood Noise Endeavor Black Fountain delay,
Dwarfcraft Devices Memento and more
We fill our ears with the latest from Joe Bonamassa,
Mr. Big and Pinnacles, and look back at Sugartooth
FEATURES
30
MARCO BENEVENTO
The piano master from New York
travels across the country to record
in Oregon with producer and Shins
keyboard player Richard Swift.
32
VISUAL SOUND
40
Bob Weil looks back at the
hard times and forward to the
good times of one of the most
recognizable mid-sized pedal
brands on the planet.
EXCLUSIVE:
LZZY HALE
Halestorm singer/guitarist talks
with us about life post-Grammy,
road versus studio gear and the
recording of their new album
due later this year.
48
SUMMER NAMM
52
ADAM GRIMM’S
COLLECTION
The top man at Satellite Amps loves
his vintage gear... and he’s got the
spread to prove it.
The Nashville shindig was
a little bigger and a little
better, but still far from
perfect. We offer up a fivepack of highlights from the
show floor.
Abandoned Kickstarter kit hits eBay
Working prototypes of Devi Ever FX’s Console cartridge
effects system go on auction
A RAFT of unfinished, but working prototypes of Devi Ever FX’s
ambitious, but ill-fated Console
project appeared and sold on eBay
last month. In all, it appears that
four internals to the Console II and a
number of ‘cartridge’ boards - some
populated and some not - were auctioned off to the highest bidder.
The units themselves brought in
about $100 on average, while the
cartridge boards ranged from around
$25 for the blanks to $50 for the
working prototypes.
The Console project was funded by
a Kickstarter campaign that funded
in June 2012, ultimately raising
almost $41,000. The project had
targeted $20,000 as its funding goal.
Delays and money management issues ultimately prompted the builder
to throw in the towel on the project
in December 2013 and begin issu-
12
ing refunds, a process that remains
ongoing today.
According to the auction language,
the cash raised from the prototype
sale will go into a fund to refund
backers of the Kickstarter.
The auction description also
confirms that the prototype systems
were designed and manufactured
by Infanem, but the items were sold
as-is and no parties will be offering
any service or repairs on the hardware. Devi Ever uploaded the design
schematics and documentation on the
Console II to the web after scrapping
the project.
Ever has since left the pedal game,
licensing the name Devi Ever FX to
Wisconsin-based Dwarfcraft Devices, who continues to offer many
of the classic Devi Ever fuzzes. Ever
herself is currently working as an
independent video game designer. G
NEWS u
PRS debuts Archon 50
Builder’s high gain amp gets a power reduction, combo
PAUL Reed Smith confirmed last
month that it will be offering its
Archon amplifier in a switchable
50/25-watt configuration starting
later this year. The Archon debuted
last year as a 100-watt head designed
to provide a full, lush gain while
also offering a clean channel.
With 50 watts, switchable to 25 via
the amp’s back panel, PRS says the
Archon 50 breaks up at a lower volume, resulting in a more classically
driven tone than its predecessor.
PRS has added the option of 6L6
or EL34 power tubes allowing players to further personalize the tone
and feel of the Archon 50. According
to the builder, the 6L6 tube complement offers plenty of versatility and
warmer, more balanced tone across
the full range of frequencies. They
will also push with less saturation
for a bit of a sweeter, smoother tone.
EL34 tubes offer focused, tight,
punchy gain and run a little hotter,
distort earlier, and deliver a wider
range of overdriven, crunch tones
that are great for rock distortion.
The Archon 50 will be offered as a
head or a 1x12 combo (with a Celestion G12-75T speaker).
News of the lower-watt Archon in
combo form confirms an exclusive
Gearphoria dropped in the Dallas
Amp Show coverage in the news
section of the Summer 2014 issue.
Pricing and availability had not
been released prior to press time. G
13
NEWS u
Stephen Douglas Design readies new pedal range
Texas builder plans push to retail with multiple new offerings
of tweaked circuits of old standards
like the Fuzz Face, Big Muff, Buzzaround and Colorsound Overdriver
among others, and sport such names
as Lexington, White Knight, Rustic
and Green Shadow. There also is
going to be a boost and an Octaviainspired pedal in the new line-up.
PHOTO: BERT DE JONG
STEPHEN Hailey of Stephen Douglas Design is preparing to drop a
new pedal range with aims of having
enough product for a retail push later
this year. With PCB layout assistance from Roy Zichri at Greenhouse
Effects, Hailey told fans on Facebook that the new range is made up
Gov’t Mule’s Brian Farmer dies
BRIAN Farmer, a fixture as Warren Haynes’ guitar tech for
Gov’t Mule and the Allman Brothers since the late 1990s,
passed away unexpectedly on 24 August. He was 53 years old.
According to a post from Gov’t Mule on their website, Farmer
died in his sleep at his home near Nashville, Tennessee.
“He was a close friend, a devoted worker, and a lover
of life,” said Haynes of Farmer. “We traveled around the
world together and shared many experiences - most while
laughing. He will be missed by a huge circle of friends
and family.”
Services for Farmer were held on 29 August at Woodlawn-Roesch-Patton Funeral Home in Nashville. G
14
Final designs are still forthcoming.
Hailey has hinted at the possibility of top mounted jacks as well as
slightly smaller enclosures.
Target price for the line is $150
across the board. Hailey currently is
building for inventory and approaching dealers to carry the range. G
NEWS u
NAMM Facebook page hacked
ORIGINAL IMAGE CENSORED FOR OUR MORE DELICATE READERS.
MI industry organization scrambles to wipe lewd images
from its official page
CEN
SOR
ED
THE NAMM Show had a rough
and long 24-hour stretch last month
when its Facebook page was hacked
and the squatters used it as a venue
for posting spammy, often lewd and
suggestive images.
No fewer than half a dozen posts
were made during the seizure (including the one pictured left, which
we have censored).
NAMM president and chief executive Joe Lamond took to the airwaves once control was returned to
thank NAMM members that alerted
the group to the problem.
“We are back up and running I am
glad to say and I am surprise about
how many of you actually, like me,
clicked through, and I’m just hoping, like me, you saved a bunch of
money on your car insurance,” he
joked in a video posted to the web.
“We’re back up and the show is
coming quickly. We’re all getting
ready for NAMM Show 2015 and
we hope to see you there.”
NAMM is the largest musical instrument trade show in the US. The
2014 Anaheim, California, gathering attracted 1,533 exhibiting companies representing 5,010 brands. In
total, 96,129 members of the music
product industry registered for the
2014 show.
The 2015 show is schedule for 2225 January. G
15
KICKSTARTED
EC Pedals Superswitcher 2 - First Modular Pedal Switcher
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/superswitcher-2-the-first-modular-pedalswitcher/x/7513605
BRANDS ON THE RISE
This IS Virgil Guitars
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/virgilguitars/this-is-virgil-guitars
Chase Bliss Audio
Minneapolis, MN
EKKO&AERO The First Remote Controlled Guitar Pedal
After making a splash in the boutique pedal
scene with the out-of-this-world sounds of the
Warped Vinyl vibrato/chorus, the company returns with what looks like another winner - the
Wombtone phaser.
Psyren: One Guitar Pedal - Infinite Pedal Boards
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/ekko-aero-the-first-remote-controlledguitar-pedal
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/508076981/psyren-one-guitar-pedalinfinite-pedal-boards
Little Smith Loose Top Guitar
Colby Amplification
City Island, NY
Mitch Colby has made great amps for a good,
long while, but his recent relaunch of the classic
Park brand is driving new, much-deserved attention to his work.
Old Blood Noise Endeavors
Norman, OK
Brady Smith returns to the boutique pedal game
after a short respite following his departure from
Walrus Audio. For his new gig, he partners with
Seth McCarroll to breath new life into older, more
obscure pedal designs lost to time.
Jackson Ampworks
Keller, TX
Brad Jackson and his crew took Summer NAMM
by storm with three new amps due later this year
that are modern takes on classic American rock
machines. Sign us up!
Novo Guitars
Fleetwood, PA
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-little-smith-loosetop-guitar-a-revolutionary-way-of-sound-production
Ghost Effects Lunar Incantation Fuzz Pedal (SUCCESSFUL)
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1834452670/ghost-effects-lunar-incantation-fuzz-pedal
NEW PEDALS
WEEK 35 of 2014
Catalinbread Sabbra Cadabra
J. Rockett Audio Designs Archer
Kinnatone Squatch Stank Fuzz
Korg Miku Stomp
Mahoney Supa Fuzz
Mooer Audio Spark Overdrive
Mooer Audio Spark SDL-2 Echo
NIG Bass Plus - Felipe Andreoli Signature Bass Drive
Red Witch Factotum - Bass Suboctave Drive
RJM Effects Green Vodka Muff
RockTuner (by Warwick) PT-2
Smallsound/Bigsound No Memory Delay
SubDecay Super Spring Theory - Spring Reverb Plus
Tortuga Effects Custom Shop Gecko - Echo/Delay
Vick Audio Tree Of Life
Wampler Pedals Clarksdale - Delta Overdrive
A new guitar brand launched by Dennis Fano?
You have our attention.
SOURCE: www.effectsdatabase.com
16
* THIS ISSUE’S CARTOON WAS GOOPED FOR PROTECTION.
Attention goopers: Please stop.
That sticky, black mess only serves one purpose, and it’s not an honest one
THE PROPONENTS of goop will
tell you they use that sticky bit of
business to preserve the integrity and
protect the identity of an original
circuit design. In the current land of
rampant cloning, one can’t blame
them for desiring a bit of protection...
that is, if they were being honest. The
truth is there is absolutely, positively
no reason to cake that stuff on unless
you’re trying to hide the origins of a
‘not very original’ circuit.
Arguments that goop ‘protects’ the
circuit from damage are smokescreens.
If your circuit is in danger of being
damaged from a bit of jostling in the
mail or by some road warrior pedalboard mistreatment, your technique
18
needs work. As far as identity protection, well... that doesn’t fly either.
There are groups of people... groups
on the internet dedicated to stripping
gooped pedals and backwards engineering circuits. And they’re good
at it. If you truly have something
original under the hood it is only a
matter of time... and not a very long
time... before your tech is undone and
exposed for all to see.
Goop is not for protection, it’s for
concealment... and it should be a
red flag for any gearhead looking to
spend their hard-earned money, especially today where a new boutique
pedal player emerges every hour.
Unscrupulous goopers are basically
playing a game of ‘circuit chicken’
with the masses, and as long as the
secret remains undisturbed inside the
1590B there is no cause to flinch. In
just the past few years, we’ve seen
our fair share of folks get ‘outed’ on
the ‘net and unceremoniously fold-up
shop and disappear into the night.
The sad fact is that the current
boutique renaissance we’re experiencing has proven that there is room
for everyone at the table. A little ingenuity and hard work can net a nice
little return for many. Unfortunately,
when the table starts to look crowded,
it brings out the crumb-snatchers -those not as interested in preparing
the feast as they are a free meal. G
Shake it up
You’ll always think one amp or pedal is enough if you
never add another one
GRIMM’S
Reality
MANY LATE night discussions have
run their course through the question “How did they get that sound?”
Online discussions will forever argue
what was really used on the Beano
album. Little Wing will forever be
murdered in an effort to find that
Hendrix magic.
While I may not be able to find
those solutions to appease the
masses, I would like to offer up
a few ideas to find a little bit of
tonal magic on your own. First and
foremost, relax and enjoy the process. Too much stress in finding the
magic will make the magic pretty
much unattainable.
One of my personal ‘secrets’ is to
use two amplifiers. Honestly, I love
using a great tube amp, and a mediocre solid state amplifier in unison.
The solid state amp adds clarity and
20
punch to the notes, while the tube
amp enriches the sound with some
drive and harmonics. On the small
scale of things, a Marshall Lead 12,
an Orange Crush or a Fender Sidekick are all very inexpensive small
amps to use for this. For louder
adventures, a Roland Jazz Chorus or
Baldwin Professional are very hard
to beat.
For people who are not effect
pedal types, mix it up sometimes. I
like throwing in something sonically
familiar, yet slightly outside of their
comfort zone for people unaccustomed to pedals. A nasty, spitty fuzz/
wah usually hits the spot, or even
just a basic FuzzFace type.
For the people who are pedal
types, start looking outside the box.
Forget what other people say about
how to run your pedals, or in what
TONE TALK u
order. I have all kinds of things I like
to do with some effects that I feel
enrich my playing. I love running a
pair of tremolo pedals back to back.
The first one slow and drippy, and
the second one sharp and fast. Learning to play within that rhythmic
range has done wonders for my right
hand. Like wahs? Use two. Have one
stuck in the cocked position and use
the second one to make your quacks
explode out the front of your amp.
Experimenting is key here.
Invite a friend over to mix things
up. Sharing gear is great. Let them
experiment with some of your gear
that they may not know as well. You
may learn to see some of your own
gear in a different light. G
Adam Grimm is the owner and founder of Satellite
Amplifiers. The Southern California-based amp shop
specializes in no nonsense tone machines. Grimm also
is an avid amplifier collector with over 100 amps. Check
out Satellite’s range here... www.satelliteamps.com.
CAUSE AND EFFECT: In a creative rut? Shake things up by adding an amp... or pedal... or both. Getting uncomfortable could be the jolt you need.
21
Introductions and inspirations...
Hello, I’m Saul Koll. I build guitars.
The Chroni
HANDIWORK: Above and opposite is just a taste of the builds that I’ve done over the years.
WHERE DO the words come from
for a writer? What inspires an artist?
How does the poem appear? What
makes the sculptor remove say, the
left chunk from that piece of marble
instead of the right? How does the
architect choose his lines and the
choreographer his steps?
And what lifts the work from the depths
of mediocrity? What makes it good?
Guitar makers may be some or
none of these things, but what they
do is a valid art form. I think the best
ones are drawing from the same well,
wherever or whatever that may be.
And the beauty part is that there are a
variety of ways to create that magic. I
have many favorites and each brings
something unique. I’m inspired and
awed by so many. I can’t get into the
heads of my heroes and explain what
drives them and share it with you. Instead here I’ll try to share some of my
22
personal process and what motivates
me to create.
My name is Saul Koll. I build guitars at my shop in Portland, Oregon.
As this is my first piece for Gearphoria and I’m sure many readers
have no idea of what I do or what
my work looks like. Rather than a
biography that may be helpful or
anything like that, I thought I’d jump
ahead and take this opportunity to
share some of my ideas about design
and thought process. I thank you in
advance for this selfish indulgence
and thank you for reading along.
There are two main points that
guide me with design and building.
First of all, there needs to be a
reason for the instrument to exist.
There needs to be a function... be it,
aesthetic, ergonomic, sonic, whatever.
There needs to be a reason for me to
invest my time. There is an endless
GUITAR TALK u
supply of fine instruments available
at every price point. What am I doing
that will offer an interesting or desirable alternative to what already exists
and is easily obtainable? What can I
do to move the craft forward and not
simply repeat what has done before?*
Second, as important as the first,
after all justification and existential
consideration** besides the obvious
design work, fabrication, sculpting,
glue, paint and strings and all that
goes into the instrument, there is an
overriding push, the constant goal
for me is a completeness of thought.
There can be many pieces and
aspects to a work and I am seeking a
unified whole, a gestalt if you will.
I want there to be a complete vision
whatever I decide to build. For one
example of the thought process, I
want the body shape to relate to the
headstock to the inlays and to the
guard, and the fittings need to be
appropriate for whatever mood I may
be trying to achieve.
I’m excited by shape, form and
texture. I’m delighted by color. I like
to work with woods, metals and plastics... all kinds of stuff and use some
or all in the instruments I make. I’m
interested in the history and development of the art and like to know
the roots and reasons for how things
came to be.
I study everything because everything is important. Politics, climate,
business, and science all affect the
music that is made and the instruments
that we play it on. I try to understand.
I like to work with the assumption
there are no rules and am making it
up as I go along. I strive to find that
balance of organic and the synthetic,
beauty and horror, humor and whimsy
with seriousness... even tragedy.
Thanks for reading. I hope some of
it has been interesting for you. G
-*I will still do the occasional tribute or copy.
I do these for my own amusement and as
well as an exercise. Just as a band will
cover a favorite song, putting their spin on it,
because it’s fun!
**It’s really not that heavy. There are a zillion
reasons or excuses that inspire me enough
to follow through on a new build. These can
include something as simple as a new shape,
an interesting color or texture, cool electronics, or even an inside joke. My point was to
stress that it’s important to me to be excited
about what I do. What excites me is discovery. What motivates me most is starting with
a seed, and taking that idea for a ride and
seeing where we all end up.
Saul Koll is the owner and founder of Koll Guitars in
Portland, Oregon. See his work at www.kollguitars.com.
23
What the heck is that?!
Behind the scenes of the weirdly wonderful Gizmotron
THE GIZMOTRON is a mechanical
device invented by Kevin Godley
and Lol Creme, members of the band
10cc, around 1973 that bowed the
strings of a guitar using little wheels.
They first used it on the song ‘Gizmo My Way’, an instrumental that
was the B-side of ‘The Wall Street
Shuffle’, which appeared on their
1974 album Sheet Music.
It was also used on the 10cc albums
that followed and on early Godley
and Creme albums, especially 1977‘s
Consequences, which was kind of a
demo record for the device.
These days the Gizmotron is known
for being responsible for the end of
the great Musitronics effects company after they tried to bring it into
production. The plastic used for the
wheels and a few other parts broke,
behaved differently under different
temperatures, which resulted in a lot
of the sold products being returned.
This part of the story is well known,
at least amongst those who know
about the Gizmotron, but here’s a
24
little background information about
the whole project.
In 1976, Godley and Creme demonstrated the Gizmo (the original name of
the prototype) to the full, nine-member
board of directors of Musitronics.
Creme had a lot of practice with the
device so the board only heard the best
sounds it could create. The demonstration so impressed everyone that the
board voted unanimously to take on the
project. They would engineer, manufacture and produce the device.
Since Musitronics only made electronic devices, a mechanical engineer
was hired to take the prototype, break
it down and come up with a manufacturing process. For about two months
and despite numerous inquiries nothing was heard from him, but when
Musitronics founder and project
leader Mike Beigel visited him again,
he was shown an “improved version”
that worked completely different from
the original prototype... and sounded
like all six strings of the guitar were
being attacked by an old hack-saw.
PEDAL TALK u
Because of the time that passed
this prototype had to be shown to
Godley and Creme in England to
evaluate it and make suggestions.
They were furious and, according to
Beigel, rightfully so. Their working design had been ignored entirely
and a complete bastardization of it
had been implemented by Musitronics’ engineer... together with John
McConnell, a physicist from the
University of Manchester Institute of
Science and Technology, who built
the prototype.
Back in the US, the mechanical
engineer was dismissed. Another
member of the Musitronics board had
a mechanical engineer friend who
also happened to be a neighbor of his.
Beigel very explicitly and carefully
went over the notes with him and
instructed him to work to make the
original concept producible.
After a shorter period of time (now
1977), the mechanical engineer
reported back with his improved
concept of how to make the device. There were heavy discussions
amongst the board about this and
when Godley and Creme came to
visit Musitronics again, they were
predictably angry to the point of
talking about legal action. They demanded that the project be developed
according to their original prototype
and rejected all other versions.
While the Musitronics pedals built
a good reputation around the world,
Beigel was rightfully worried about
the problems with the new product. He
presented the board with a detailed,
alternative plan for new products in
the field of digital audio processing,
but it was rejected. The board decided
to sell Musitronics to raise money for
a new company devoted to making the
Gizmo (later renamed Gizmotron).
Beigel resigned and started his own
consulting business. One of his first
projects was to perfect the design of
the motor drive and speed regulation
of the Gizmotron.
The Musitronics Corporation
including the Mu-tron product line
and intellectual property rights were
bought by ARP, who also paid royalties for each pedal they made. There
was a clause for reversion of the
property rights if ARP went bankrupt,
which it did in 1980, only a year-anda-half later.
Gizmo Inc., the new corporation
formed to make Gizmotrons, completed the product design and drummed up
marketing hype, but despite vigorous
re-engineering of the device there
were constant problems of unreliability. At one point, they even recruited
Bob Moog to try to develop an electronic device to “mask the inadequacies of the still unperfected product”,
but he finally gave his opinion that he
did not know how to “make it sound
good enough” and advised that the
project should be abandoned.
By 1980, the company had gone
through a small fortune and was
already in desperate trouble when
Aaron Newman, co-founder of Musitronics, had a severe heart attack. His
health made it impossible for him to
continue working for the company.
Lacking leadership and with no further investment forthcoming, Gizmo
Inc. went bankrupt in 1981.
Link: www.effectsdatabase.com/gizmotron
Bart Provoost is the curator and owner of
Effects Database (FXDB), the single, biggest
source for information regarding pedal effects both
old and new on the internet. Visit the site at www.
effectsdatabase.com.
THE GIZMOTRON: Godley and Creme’s wacky effects unit was a bold concept, but one that fell flat for Musitronics on a commericial level.
25
Rise of the machines
Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Automation
IF YOU BUILD electronics products
for a living, often the difference between making a living and not, is the
speed and reliability with which you
can assemble and test your goods.
The lower the selling price of your
product, the more efficient you need
to be at assembling it.
If you are the manufacturer of a
$50,000 luxury Swiss watch, then a
lot of the value of your product is in
the days or weeks its takes the expert
craftspeople to create it. For a $100
effects pedal, you are going to have to
be quicker off the mark if you hope to
pay the bills at the end of the month.
Even at the snootiest end of the
boutique pedal market, you are soon
going to be in pretty deep doo-doo if
it takes you days to build something
that sells for even $500.
So how do we do it? We use machines, of course. Assembling circuit
boards is one of the most time consuming stages of manufacturing, and
26
there are several mechanized techniques to accomplish this. The most
efficient, and the way most consumer
electronics products are assembled
today, employs a Surface Mount
Device, or SMD production line. The
line comprises a number of machines
interconnected by a conveyor. The
first machine deposits solder paste
onto the surface of the PCB through
a stencil. Usually several PCBs are
bundled together onto a large board
called a panel. The panel is sawed
apart, or ‘de-panelized’ into individual PCBs later in the process.
After paste is applied, the panel
passes into a pick and place machine
that feeds in components from reels
similar to a film reel. A robot arm
picks up the parts and drops them into
place on the panel. Multi-head machines can place hundreds of components per second. After the parts have
been placed, the conveyor carries
the panel through a heating tunnel
TECH TALK u
that melts or ‘reflows’ the paste, and
solders the components to the board.
The finished boards come out at the
end where they can be cleaned and
de-panelized into individual PCBs.
Search ‘SMD Production Line’ on You
Tube for some videos of the process.
The majority of the work is in programming the machines, and loading
the reels of components. After that,
the machine can be largely left to
do its thing. The cost per board goes
down when we can leverage the upfront programming and loading, and
let the machines build more boards.
Another type of component is called
‘through hole’. These have leads that
push through holes in the PCB and
are the type that we often see in hand
built boutique pedals. Some fans
believe that hand soldered vintage
style capacitors and resistors impart
a special pedal mojo. If anyone can
actually hear the difference in a circuit between through hole and SMD
passives in a double blind test, I’ll eat
my hat. In some circuits, especially
digital ones, components like microcontrollers and flash memory may
only be available in SMD anyway.
SMD has mechanical limits though,
and larger components such as electrolytic capacitors, coils, connectors
and controls may still be through
hole. These can be added to SMD
boards using a wave or selective
solder machine, which uses a wave of
molten solder to attach the component
legs to the pads on the board.
Running single panels through both
SMD and through hole processes,
costs more than just one process, so
you have to plan for this when designing your product for manufacturing.
Due to the high cost of these machines and the infrastructure to run
them, many manufacturers send their
board assembly out to specialty facilities. The populated PCBs can then
be assembled in house into the final
product. For final assembly and other
work, such as small run and prototyping, there are machines too. Here are
a few we use around our shop on a
daily basis.
Automatic Wire Cutter and Stripper
Feeds reels of hook up wire in one
end, and precisely cut and stripped
wires in specific lengths come out the
other. The machine processes hundreds of wires per minute. Not only is
it a massive time saver, but it also improves product quality and reduces the
risk of repetitive strain injury. No one
ever uses it without recalling doing
this by hand and quietly whispering to
themselves: “I so love this machine”.
CO2 Laser
Cuts plastic components, makes
decals and labels, etches logos onto
metal enclosures, creates templates,
the list goes on. The laser is the
general purpose small fabricating tool
around the shop. Countless times a
week a find myself instructing: “Just
put in in the laser”.
Ultrasonic Cleaner
The best way to remove flux and
other residue from small run and
re-worked PCBs. Drop in the assembly, and watch the magic bubbles.
You can also clean your tools with it
afterwards.
Crimping Machine
Uses crimp terminals from a reel. The
operator feeds in the stripped cable
end from the wire stripping machine
and presses a footswitch. Three tons
of force is applied. Essential for compliance with safety standards if you
are making AC powered products. G
James Lebihan is the owner of Mission Engineering in Petaluma, California. See his handiwork at www.
missionengineering.com.
DON’T FEAR THE CRIMPER: Advances in technology have continued to make process machinery better, more efficient and more affordable.
27
LIST-ERIA! u
Causing gearhead discomfort since 2014
The TOP 10
EFFECTS PEDALS
Current Decade
of the
...s
of
ar
PART 1
Are we living in the golden age of boutique guitar effects? Some would argue yes, and some might say
we’re a little past that curve... but however you slice it there is little doubt that some excellent pedals have
made their way to market in the past few years. Gearphoria enlisted a team of pedal pros to come up with a
list of the Top 10 effects pedals released during the current decade. It’s a fairly diverse list and one we think
offers a good snapshot of the current cream of the small bulider crop. Counting down from 10, here is part
one of the list. Part two will follow next issue. G
10.
Psionic Audio Telos
Lyle Caldwell’s Psionic Audio has been building their own brand of preamp/boost/
drive pedals in Memphis, Tennessee since the mid-2000s. Known most widely for
their preamp Triad pedal, in 2011 Psionic released the Telos - a buffer/boost/overdrive
combo stomp that has consistently run out of stock since that time, even given its
$350 price tag. Described as ‘bas ass... all the way around’ by Texas guitarist David
Grissom, the Telos features a high quality buffer with good headroom and a low noise
floor to preserve amp tone while keeping the signal path clear, a musical overdrive
section that offers control over the high and low end response, and a boost mode that
toggles between clean and soft drive applications.
9.
Origin Effects Cali76
Compressors get a bad rap sometimes, but when you sit down with a
good one and really get into all it has to offer it can be a very eye-opening experience... and there has likely been no better compressor pedal to
hit the market since the beginning of 2010 than Origin Effects’ Cali76.
Inspired by the Urei 1776 of the 1960s, the goal in creating the Cali76
was to bring the sonic properties of the classic studio tool to the feet of
today’s guitarists. The UK-built Cali76 comes in a standard and transformer version that range in price from $340 to over $550 depending on
transformer options. Salvage Custom Shop top beard Daniel Tyack, an
avid user of the Origin flagship put it like this: “The only problem with
the Cali76 is the fact that you’ll no longer be able to get into ‘What’s the
best compressor?’ arguments on the internet. The 76 is simply in its own
league. You’ll feel horrible bringing such a big gun to the fight.”
28
LIST-ERIA! u
8.
Causing gearhead discomfort since 2014
Chase Bliss Audio Warped Vinyl
Is it a vibrato? A chorus? A fully-armed and operational modulation battle station?!
Those were common questions upon the 2013 emergence of the Chase Bliss Audio
Warped Vinyl pedal - a control-laden warbler designed to simulate the effect of a
warped vinyl record and more. A ‘hybrid’ digitally-controlled, analog effect, the
Warped Vinyl is built by Joel Korte and his team in Minneapolis, Minnesota to be a
tone tweaker’s dream. The effect sports six knob, three toggle and dual foot switch
controls... and that’s just on the front. The pedal also has 16 dip switches on the back
that can really open the thing up. Everything from lo-fi to sci-fi is packed neatly into
a standard stompbox enclosure.
7.
EarthQuaker Devices Dispatch Master
The blend of delicate delay and lush reverb is not a new notion for most
devout tone seekers. Leave it to the circuit-smiths at Akron, Ohio’s EarthQuaker Devices to wire up a pedal that brings the best of both worlds
under one enclosure. With the Dispatch Master, not only does top ‘quaker
Jamie Stillman continue to show his affinity for a former Cedar Point roller
coaster -- the Dispatch Master (Disaster) Transport, he also continues
to show his knack for churning out quality pedals. The Dispatch Master
comes armed with everything from ambient chops to slap back echo. Each
effect can be used independently, but the pedal really shines when the pair
is mixed together.
6.
Mojo Hand FX Rook
With an aim to bring a versatile, medium-gain overdrive to market in the vein of
some of the higher-end boxes of the time, Mojo Hand’s Brad Fee and his team crafted a dirt box that took a familiar pedigree and added articulation, punch and better
tone controls. The Rook was an instant hit, booting more expensive overdrives from
the boards of pro players worldwide. The Rook has been a fixture for bands like
Aerosmith and Alter Bridge and even spawned a sibling pedal - the Rook Royale,
which brings an independent EP-style boost and the original Rook circuit into one,
larger enclosure. “I’m totally blown away with how great this pedal sounds,” said
Alter Bridge’s Myles Kennedy. “It boosts my leads without compromising clarity or
tone. It’s also proving to be extremely versatile in different situations. Love it!”
THE COUNTDOWN CONTINU ES NEXT ISSUE WITH MORE DELAYS, A FUZZ & AN OLD
FAVORIT E REBORN. ..
29
QUICK TAKE u
Marco Benevento
BENEVENTO ON ‘SWIFT’
New York-based pianist Marco Benevento connects with West Coast producer
Richard Swift, reconnects with old keyboard (and singing voice) on new album
KEYS GURU Marco Benevento’s secret weapon on his upcoming album
Swift can be traced back to his childhood, and the first keyboard he ever
owned. When he was eight years old,
his parents bought him a Casiotone
8000. It would travel around with him
from place to place and eventually
reside with the rest of his gear at his
new home in Woodstock, New York.
One night, entertaining a local music shop owner and his wife at dinner,
the store owner spied the vintage keyboard and remarked that he believed
he had the drum machine that paired
with it at his store.
“He couldn’t turn it on because
it had a weird, multi-pin connector
that goes to the back of the keyboard when it gets its power,” recalls
Benevento. “So he hadn’t tested it. I
was like ‘Man, I’ve had that keyboard
since I was a kid. I’d love to hear that
drum machine!’. He brought it over
not long after and plugged it in, ran
30
it through an amp and we were both
like ‘This is the best drum machine
in the world!’ It sounded so cool! It’s
a Casiotone RC1 and it has to run
through the Casiotone 8000.”
Armed with his new toy, Benevento
drew inspiration from its ‘crazy’ hi-hat
patterns and other unique beats and fills
he swears he has never heard anything
like coming from any other machine.
“It can also arpeggiate notes and
have bass lines. It’s got volume
knobs for everything too,” explains
Benevento. “You can cut out the
rhythm and just have the arpeggio
and the chords going, or just the bass
and arpeggios... or just the drums.
In the end, it wound up on half the
tracks on the new record. It is something I’m going to be using for a long
time. I’m already working on another
record that has a lot more of this
drum machine too.”
The machine proved motivating and
the draw of working with producer and
part-time Shins keyboardist Richard
Swift, who he heard about through his
wife’s sister, pulled Benevento and his
crew all the way across the country to
Cottage Grove, Oregon.
“He’s an inspiring guy that I knew
through a friend,” says Benevento.
“Literally, we did it in like three and a
half days. Five songs one day, four the
next, vocals on the third day and then
synth overdubs for a half-day. That
was it. Richard mixed it at his place. I
purposely didn’t want anything to do
with the post production stuff. I didn’t
want to go haywire with overdubbing
synths and ‘frankenstein’-ing different
parts together. I just wanted to go in
and play, get a good take and that was
it. We caught a vibe. We got a good
sound of the band on a good day... in
a good place with a great set of ears
checking it all out.”
Swift by name and swift by nature,
the new record also features something that has alluded Benevento’s
QUICK TAKE u
enlisted friends like Aaron Freeman
(ex-Ween) to help with easing into the
process of lyricist/vocalist. Friend and
guitarist Charlie Hunter saw Benevento sing for the first time at Jazz Fest in
New Orleans last year and imparted a
bit of ominous, but chuckle-worth advice: “You remember how it took you
30 years to learn to play the piano? It’s
going to take you another 30 years to
learn to sing!”
The introduction of vocals does not
take away from the piano - the long-
piano is that it is newer... not made
in the ‘20s. This was probably made
in the ‘70s. It doesn’t break down as
much and it is lighter, because the
harp that holds the tension on the
strings isn’t steel... it’s aluminum.
Still heavy, but lighter... and shorter
too, so now I can see my band.
That’s kinda nice. I bought it for
$100 on Craigslist. I had to do one
major repair on it -- replacing all of
these little plastic elbows that connect the keys towards the bottom. It
is awesome.”
With the new, old piano integrated
into the live rig, Benevento has made
“We got a good sound of the band a few additional changes. The piano
is hot-rodded with K&K pickups,
on a good day... in a good place
which he has a handful strategically
with a great set of ears
places in and on the instrument.
“The house gets a clean signal,
checking it all out.”
then I have a set that go through
the pedals - distortion, delay,
standing centerpiece of Benevento’s
tremolo,” he explains. “Then it goes
universe. He recently swapped out
through an old Silvertone 1484 amp.
his touring piano - a 1927 Wurlitzer
It gets a gritty rock piano sound. My
upright for... and we’re not making
vocals go through an MXR Carbon
this up... a $100 Craigslist find.
Copy. I have a (Diaz) Tremodillo
“It’s a shorter piano,” explains
that I like a lot. The tremolo on the
Benevento. “There are also two
amp is the best, but the knob is a
strings per note, with some of
little out of reach most of the time.
the bass strings having only one,
My favorite delay for the piano has
compared to the almighty Wurlitzer
been the Boss DM-3 from the 80s.
which had three strings per note
It is amazing. I have three of them
and really sounded a lot more full.
because they kind of break. In fact, I
However, the coolest thing about this need to get one fixed now.” G
PHOTOS: GOPRO SELFIES COUTESY OF MARCO BENEVENTO
records to date -- his singing voice.
Following his most recent album
Tigerface, Benevento started exploring lyrics more, digging deeper into
classic Bob Dylan and John Lennon
and really listening to the words. He
initially planned to hire Annakalmeia
Traver from Rubblebucket, who sung
two tracks on Tigerface, for the vocal
work on Swift.
“That was the introduction of me
hearing my songs with words... with
a singer,” he recalls. “I really liked it
and I knew I wanted to do it again.
I thought I would just have her do
it again... for these songs on Swift.
When I caught myself thinking
that I had a ‘moment’ in the studio
where I was like ‘No, you should
really do that yourself so when you
go out to play the songs live you
can have the vocal parts too.’ That
was the beginning of it all. While
we were demoing the tunes I would
sing at my studio. After playing it for
friends and various people, convincing
others that I can do it. I have sung live
before. At Jazzfest, I sing the songs of
James Booker. I did Dr. John as well.
Back in high school I sang in bands, so
it wasn’t foreign to me. But when I got
into jazz at Berkeley I really focused
on the music and just sort of forgot
about singing. Now I find it so enjoyable and I want to get better at it.”
Along the way, Benevento has
Marco Benevento
31
Seeing is believing. Bob Weil founded Visual Sound on that simple notion. Looking for a better solution
to the existing volume pedals on the market, Weil employed a light meter that would show guitarists how much oomph was passing through the pedal. Things were good... then things got bad. Out
of money on the cusp of the release of the company’s flagship Jekyll and Hyde distortion/overdrive
pedal, Visual Sound filed for bankruptcy. Weil, accepting but not happy about the defeat, started his
search for another job. Not long into the process, an unexpected phone call from overseas changed the
game and brought Visual Sound roaring back to life.
IMAGES & WORDS BY BLAKE WRIGHT
Additional images courtesy of Visual Sound
CAN
YOU
SEE
IT?
FEATURE u
Visual Sound
IT WAS August 1998. Financially
drained and in over its head, Visual
Sound filed for bankruptcy protection. Company founder Bob Weil
admits making some bad decisions, but
ultimately the company just ran out of
money, and not long after introducing
what would become its flagship pedal the Jekyll & Hyde distortion/overdrive.
Initial reception of the pedal was
good, but with no money to order
parts the company was sunk. About
two weeks after the company filed,
Weil received a fax from a distributor in Germany. He had purchased
a handful of early Jekyll & Hydes
at a tradeshow and, unbeknownst to
Visual Sound, had sent them out to a
few magazines in Europe for review.
In short, the press loved them. The
distributor’s fax was an order... a significant order... for Jekyll & Hydes.
“He calls me up the next day and
asked if I had gotten the order,”
recalls Weil. “I told him yes, but
unfortunately I didn’t have any
money to make them. By this time
we were making them in Taiwan. I
didn’t have enough money to pay for
the order. You had to pre-pay. So, he
says ‘That’s terrible! We must have
these!’ I told him sorry, but I couldn’t
pay the factory. I just couldn’t do it.
He asked what if he wire transferred
the money to me next week? I paused
and said, you don’t understand.
These are not even in the pipeline
yet. We haven’t ordered these. He
said no, take the money that I’m going to send you and make some.”
It was a generous offer, but still not
enough to make the minimum order
with Visual Sound’s factory overseas. Weil paused, then phoned his
distributor in England. Sheepishly,
he asked if there was any way he
would agree to pre-pay their existing
order, which could then be combined
with the German order to make the
minimum run of pedals possible. The
UK distributor not only agreed, but
doubled his order. The original order
had already been pre-sold out.
“I get off the phone and I just start
34
LEGACY IN OVERDRIVE: Visual Sound offers several ‘flavors’ of overdrive. The evolution can be
traced back to the original Jekyll & Hyde to the newer VS-XO and Custom Shop pedals.
laughing,” says Weil. “I look up
to God and say ‘I don’t know why
you have me in this stupid business,
but obviously you do!’ The money
from those two orders combined was
exactly the amount I needed to the
penny to buy my next order from
Taiwan. So I was back in business...
whether I wanted to be or not. That
was September 1998. I got the pedals by November. I rented a car and
drove 10,000 miles across the coun-
try, stopping in guitar stores, selling my pedals. I repeated journeys
like that across the country several
times... from 1998 to around 2004.”
Flash forward.
Visual Sound rebounded from its
death sentence to become one of
the more recognizable mid-sized
boutique brands on the planet. The
company has continued to evolve
its pedal range and its extremely
FEATURE u
FIRST STOP: If you visit Visual Sound headquarters south of Nashville, make sure you sample
some of the homebrew! Dealer relations guru Steve Mikesell (inset) is an excellent brewmaster.
successful 1 Spot pedal power
technology. Today, the company is
busy launching its new V3 series of
pedals, which includes updates of
old favorites as well as some new
surprises on the horizon.
The V3 range will usher out the
‘home plate’ shaped enclosures the
company has used for years in favor
of more traditional housings as well
as usher in the option for true bypass
-- a first for a Visual Sound pedal.
“In late 2007 that we started coming out with the V2 Series, which
was the die-cast aluminum, fancy
housings with the cool-looking
mushroom capped switches and all
that,” says Weil. “The things are
absolute tanks. They are extremely
well-built. But, aesthetically, some
people didn’t like them. Some people
did. A lot of people didn’t. If that
had come out in the 1990s or earlier,
people would have been all over it.
Visual Sound
But, they came out ’07 and ’08... and
that’s when everyone started getting
into all things boutique. That’s when
the boutique explosion started happening. Everything vintage. We did
okay with the V2 Series, but I think
if we had stuck with the stamped
sheet metal, flat top V1 Series that
came prior to that we probably would
have done even better... by building
up that.”
“The problem was that I hated the
switches that we were using with the
V1 Series. They were double-poled
versions of the 3PDT ‘true bypass’
switches that everyone else was using... and they are just not reliable.
The typical 3PDT or DPDT stomp
switches like we used to use... they
are made to pass wall voltage -- up
to 240 volts is what those things
are designed to pass. When you try
sending a 100 millivolt Strat guitar
pickup signal through something
that is designed to carry 250 volts, if
there is even a breath of oxidation on
the contacts inside the switch, that
signal is not getting through. It is
just not made for it. I wanted to get
away from those kind of switches,
so that’s why we did the V2 Series
switches, which last for 10,000,000
hits and are covered by our lifetime
warranty. Our new V3 Series has our
new ‘forever’ foot switch. They have
the same basic technology as our V2
Series did - rated for 10,000,000 hits.
I designed it myself, just like the V2
switches. People can stomp the heck
out of them for the rest of their lives
and they will never break.”
The V3 Series ‘forever’ switches
are now tied to relays with goldplated contacts, boosting reliability. The combination gives Visual
Sound the confidence to offer a
lifetime warranty -- a rarity in the
pedal business.
Weil has long been a proponent of
buffers and has steered clear of offering true bypass switching in recent
Visual Sound pedals, until now.
The V3 Series will have a switchable system, and it will be up to the
35
FEATURE u
Visual Sound
ON ANY GIVEN DAY: Visual Sounds offices can offer a loaded jam room, a contemplative Bob Weil and healthy debate between co-workers.
user whether to use straight-up true
bypass or the company’s own buffer
circuit. In the end, Weil realizes you
need to give people what they want.
“Demand drove the true-bypass
decision for V3,” he says. “I still think
there is a lot of hype and mythology
built up in that. At the end of 2008
we did a couple of ‘mythbuster’ style
videos. They are still out there. One of
them was about true bypass. We had
50 professional Nashville musicians in
a studio - the Sound Kitchen in Franklin, TN. They’re all musicians. They
have good ears. The sound environment was perfect. We did a blind test.
36
They just had to listen. They couldn’t
see what I was doing. I let them hear
the difference between true bypass
going through a long cable coming out
of a pedal to an amp... about 25 feet
away. We let them listen to the difference... true bypass versus our Pure
Tone buffer. Everyone in the room
raised their hands saying they liked the
buffer better.”
Cleaning out the garage.
Originally built with international
sales in mind, Visual Sound introduced the GarageTone line of affordable effects boxes just as the global
economy took a nose dive in the late
2000s. The idea was to offer quality,
no frills effects for a price that averaged around $60. The initial response
was a bit under-whelming and soon
Weil understood that the company
made a mistake -- it underpriced
itself out of the market.
“I think that was our problem on
the marketing side with GarageTone,” admits Weil. “We didn’t
charge enough for them... so a lot of
guys turned up their noses to them
before they even plugged them in.
It’s weird. You try to give somebody
a good deal and they’re like ‘No,
FEATURE u
been our best sellers... the Jekyll &
no...’ It was a partial commercial
Hyde, Route 66, H2O... all of those,”
success. We made money on it, but
they didn’t fly off the shelves like we explains Weil. “We’re giving all
of those a significant upgrade. The
hoped and thought they would.”
H2O is out already. Route 66 will
The company elected to sell the
GarageTone pedals in the US too, but be out in the fall... and the Jekyll &
Hyde shortly thereafter. They are
found that most musicians tend to
all getting the V3 upgrade with the
gravitate to higher priced gear, even
new rectangular housings, separate
if they can’t truly afford it.
“There is this mentality that in order ins and outs if you want to use them,
to get quality you have to pay for it,” and all of the additional circuit
says Weil. “So you try to give some- upgrades.... we’re not duplicating
body a great deal by offering them an our Route 808 circuit anymore. We
overdrive for $60, but they automati- used to use that a little too much.
cally assume it’s not any good so they We’re getting away from that. Addare not even going to plug it in and
try it. It is also a crowded end of
the market... the $50 to $70 range.
There are Boss pedals in that range.
“We didn’t charge enough for
There are others... lower-end MXR
them... so a lot of guys turned
stuff is there. EHX... it’s a crowded
market with some pretty big playup their noses to them before
ers. For all of the effort we put into
they even plugged them in.”
making those circuits sound fantastic it was disappointing... because
we thought that people would toing several more features per pedal
tally get it.” so that guys can really experiment
At mid-summer 2014, the Axle
and find their sound... or find the
Grease delay is sold out. There are
sounds that inspire them. None of
a handful of Chainsaw distortions,
these pedals are designed to be set
Drivetrain overdrives and the Oil
one way and that’s it. They are meant
Can phasers left. The tremolo is also
to be creative tools that work great
sold out.
in the studio, on the stage or just in
“Once they are gone, they’re
your bedroom. You still want a lot of
gone,” confirms Weil. “If anybody
can still get a GarageTone pedal, they accessibility to great sounds.”
A quick glance at the V3 pedals out
are cheap as chips... they should get
to date and one can tell the emphasis
them! They are fantastic pedals.”
on tweakability and voicing options
Who’s in, who’s out and what’s coming. in the new range. Weil and his crew
have made a conscious decision to
As the company transitions from
pack in optionality and flexibility in
V2 to V3, not all of the existing line
will be making the trip. The company the new builds. Can Visual Sound’s
faithful followers expect the same
has made a conscious decision to
treatment for the anticipated V3 Jemove back to its roots of primarily
kyll & Hyde?
producing dual effect pedals. So far,
“I’m hesitant to say too much,”
the V3 line has seen the new VS-XO
confesses Weil. “We have prototypes
Experimental Overdrive, which offor the new Jekyll & Hyde being
fers two independent drive channels;
worked on right now. The design is
the H2O, the company’s chorus/vibrato combo; and soon will be joined already 99% solidified. It is going to be way notched up. I’ll say
by all-new Route 66 and Jekyll &
this... we’ve completely changed the
Hyde stomps.
overdrive channel on the new Jekyll
“Our dual pedals have always
Visual Sound
& Hyde. It is a completely different
circuit. It is not quite as mid-rangey
as the old one. The old overdrive
channel was basically the old Route
808. The new one will be an overdrive circuit that still sounds great
and amp-y, but not as mid-rangey.
It will have more features on it as
well. As you can tell from some of
the other V3s, we’re starting to get
into the whole ‘clean mix’ thing...
incorporating a mixer on one or more
of the channels to bring clean signal
back into the picture. Everyone here
at the office and all of the artists that
have checked it out immediately
get it and dig it. It is extremely
musical... being able to bring in
a little bit of your clean tone. It’s
literally like taking two channels
on a mixing console - you’ve got a
fader for overdrive and you’ve got
a fader for clean and you can mix
those, up and down... anyway you
want it. You do that on the pedals
with a single knob, which is a dual
pot. As one is getting mixed up the
other is getting mixed down. There
are some really good musical flavors
with that.”
The company is working on a
scaled-down version of its Dual Tap
Delay that will feature the same
control set in a smaller footprint. The
smaller version should debut sometime in 2015.
While the Angry Fuzz has been
discontinued, Weil is optimistic that
the fuzz circuit may yet be reborn
into its own dual pedal configuration
down the road.
The company also has a reverb unit
on the drawing board.
“We’ve gotten more requests for
reverb than anything else,” admits
Weil. “We wanted to do it right.
We’ll do reverb combined with
something else most likely... the
whole two-in-one thing. I can’t say
what the other thing is yet because I
don’t know! I’ve got a timeline that
involves phasing out old pedals and
bringing in new pedals. It is a bit of a
chess match.”
37
FEATURE u
Visual Sound
TEAM VS: (L to R) Zac Childs (Intl Sales), Michael Weil - COO, Phyllis Weil - Controller, Dana Weaver – Repairs/Shipping/Pedal Creations, Steven
Bliss – Artist Relations, Steve Mikesell – Dealer Relations and Bob Weil - CEO
The Custom Shop Overdrive.
This year, Visual Sound experimented for the first time with a limited
release custom shop pedal that it assembled in Tennessee and sold direct
to consumers. The Custom Shop overdrive (yes, that’s the name!) is a rawboxed, three-knob overdrive built as
a limited run of about 150 pedals and
sold to US consumers via the Visual
Sound website for around $130.
“It is a circuit that we’ve monkeyed
around with for a few years,” explains Weil. “It fits a sonic niche that
none of our other pedals fall into. It
is just this light, loose overdrive. It
sounds like an old Marshall through a
4x12... only you’d be playing through
a 1x12 clean Fender. It has that big,
lightly-overdriven sound. You can
get it to be fairly distorted, but that’s
not where it excels. It excels at the
medium and low grit settings.”
Does a successful run for the
Custom Shop overdrive indicate that
more Visual Sound Custom Shop
pedals could be in the offing? “It could happen,” suggests Weil. “I
wouldn’t say we have a master plan
there. We have plans, but we also wing
it a lot. This is an experiment. We’ll
see how it goes. Right out of the gate,
38
people are kind of clamoring... which
is great. They really do sound great.
We’ve got some top players here in
Nashville flipping over it.”
Five years from now.
Weil is the first to admit that his focus over the past few years has been
uneven due in part to an excess of
projects outside of Visual Sound. His
blue jeans company, dubbed Southern Blues, was being run out of the
Visual Sound offices in Spring Hill,
Tennessee, and took up more of his
time that he realized. The brand and
operation is now for sale.
“It was only after I put it (Southern Blues) on the shelf six to seven
months ago that I realized, you know
I can do a lot of things, but I can’t do
a lot of things well,” says Weil. “It
is just a matter of time too. I created these great jeans. The people
who have them, love them. Southern
Blues... what a great company name!
I had a great image... but I can’t do
that well unless I devote all of my
time to it. That would mean giving up my bread and butter... Visual
Sound. That would be dumb.”
Visual Sound turns 20 next year.
The first decade Weil basically did
the job alone, with help from his
wife. The second found him joined
by a handful of employees - all
friends and family that strive to make
the brand the best it can be.
“The last 10 years has been this wonderful collaboration of employees who
are also friends and family,” says Weil.
“It’s like good songwriting. Most great
songs aren’t written by one guy. They
are written by two or three or more
people. It’s the same thing when you’re
coming out with new products. I’ve got
some great ideas. I came up with Visual
Volume and Jekyll and Hyde all by myself. In order to continue the evolution
of these products, I need input from
other guys.”
As 2020 approaches, Weil sees the
V3 Series going strong and the 1
SPOT still a global best-seller. The
power solution is set to be joined by
a range dubbed 1 SPOT Pro, which
will be a brick-sized power solution for pedals that takes the 1 SPOT
technology, puts it in a box of a couple of different sizes, with isolated
outputs and multiple voltages.
“There are other things that we are
working on too that I can’t talk about
just yet,” teases Weil. “There are
always items on the list.” G
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Hail! Hale!
A
s far as Lzzy Hale is concerned, there’s no better city for a musician than Nashville. Halestorm — with
Hale on vocals and guitar, her brother Arejay on drums, bassist Josh Smith and guitarist Joe Hottinger
— relocated a few months ago to begin work on their third release for Atlantic Records. Frequenting
venues like 12 South Taproom, and watching A-list guitarists like Kenny Vaughan jamming and playing for
tips, is “mind-blowing and inspiring,” she says. “It makes you want to go back and write something new.
You want to practice. You want to get better. It still rings very true that if you want to be a better musician,
surround yourself with musicians that are better than you. It forces your hand.”
Halestorm’s next album follows their chart-topping sophomore project, The Strange Case Of…, which debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s Hard Rock Albums chart and entered at No. 15 on the Billboard 200. The single
‘Love Bites (So Do I)’ reached No. 1 on Active Rock radio — a first for a female-fronted group. The song also
won them their first Grammy, for Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance. Their next single, ‘Freak Like Me,’ was
also an Active Rock No. 1 song.
In November, Halestorm begin a fall tour and will also join country artist Eric Church for a number of dates.
In the meantime, they continue to smolder away on their new record while playing a few headlining and
festival shows.
INTERVIEW BY ALISON RICHTER - PHOTOS BY ROB FENN
INTERVIEW u
Lzzy Hale
GEARPHORIA: You’re going back and
forth between the studio and the
road. How do you make the transition from playing for a screaming
audience to confining yourself
within those four walls?
LZZY: We’re doing a couple of fly dates
this summer to keep our chops up, a lot
of fairs and festivals, but we’re not on a
consistent tour right now.
I actually love it. This is the first
time we’ve done that, because usually we’re either on the road or in the
studio, and this has been both.
It’s extremely inspiring to step out
of the studio and then step in front of
an audience and remind yourself why
you’re making these songs. It gives
you perspective about what you’re
working on in the studio. It’s a different animal and I’m really enjoying it.
Is Halestorm now a different animal
as well? You spent almost two years
on the road, won a Grammy, and
you’re recording your third label release. Are you feeling any pressure?
We’ve definitely evolved. The one
thing that has remained the same is
that we’re all perpetually 14 years old
inside, so we’re all very immature.
That hasn’t changed much! But the
animal or monster of Halestorm has
gotten bigger, and obviously there’s
more responsibility and also a little
more on the line. But for the most
part we’ve continued to do what
we’ve always done, which is chase
after whatever gets us excited.
The goal has always been to continue and see what happens next. We’ve
had a lot of “stop and smell the roses”
moments lately, a lot of “remember
whens” with each other.
It blows my mind that not only
are we making our third record on
Atlantic Records, which is a feat
in itself because we know so many
bands that never make it to this one,
so we’re humbled by that, but also it
has been 18 years since my brother
and I started Halestorm, so there are
42
Lzzy got a Gibson SG as a birthday present from band guitarist Joe Hottinger.
moments of “Can you believe we’re
still doing this?” It’s mind-boggling.
What gear are you taking on the
road with you and what are you using on this new record?
As far as things we take with us, it
depends on the gig and how long our
set is. We have an amazing crew, and
most of them have been with us for
six years, so they understand what we
need and what the staples are... those
three or four guitars that you always
take out with you.
In the studio we haul gear in and
out. We’re basing ourselves out of
Nashville and we also have a warehouse, which is where the buses come
out of, so it’s fairly easy to get on the
bus, pick up the gear and go. We were
flying a lot and trying to coordinate
with the gear without spending an
enormous amount of money, but that’s
made it a lot easier. In the studio it’s a
lot more experimental. Depending on
the people working with us, there are
a lot of different resources to try new
pedals or new amps or even guitars
that we don’t have.
I am a Gibson girl, but in the studio I
have been known to pick up a Telecaster, or use a Diezel instead of a Marshall.
On the road it’s a lot simpler. I like
keeping things streamlined, and I’m a
very “plug in and play” type of gal, so
I have minimal pedals. I have my array
of guitars. I have a custom Marshall
JCM 800 that Marshall made for me, so
I’m using that. It’s nice and bright.
My tone changes from song to
song, depending on the guitar that
I use. As far as my pedals, I have a
Dunlop Jerry Cantrell wah, a standard
Boss Chromatic Tuner, and an MXR
Boost/Line Driver to boost whatever
solos I have or different parts that
need to stand out.
INTERVIEW u
Lzzy Hale
HALESTORM: (Left to right): Josh Smith (bass), Arejay Hale (drums) , Lzzy Hale (lead singer/guitar) and Joe Hottinger (lead guitar).
Other than that, it’s all in the fingers
and how I’m rolling on and off the
volume, as far as my guitars. So it’s
much simpler when we go out on
tour. Tour is easy.
Which guitars?
I have a 2013 Les Paul Supreme,
which is really beautiful and has such
a warm tone. I use that for songs like
‘Rock Show’ or some of the more
mid-tempo songs.
I’m also using a Les Paul Baritone
that I tune down to B for that nice
lower end, which is a complement to
Joe’s guitar during songs like ‘Freak
Like Me’ and ‘I Get Off’ that call for
a more ballsy tone.
Obviously, my go-to guitar is a
signature Gibson Explorer that we’re
putting into production pretty soon.
I have a couple of different versions
because I’m trying out some differ-
ent pickups, so one is my prototype
and the other is the original that they
made for me.
I brought out an SG, which I
haven’t really done much with on the
road. I’ve been inching it into certain
songs to see where it complements
which song and where I should play it
in the set.
When did you start playing the SG
and how does it inspire your playing?
This guitar was a birthday gift from
my guitar player. I tell my guys all
the time not to get me stuff for my
birthday because we’re together all
the time, so they try to make me feel
guilty for not getting them anything,
and this was that attempt.
Anytime you get a new guitar, it’s
very inspiring. It’s something different in your hands. You have to play a
little bit differently.
The SG is a fairly small and light
guitar compared to my Les Paul or
even my Explorer, so you hold it differently. It moves differently. You can
wield that axe in a different way.
Usually, when you get a new guitar,
you sit down and write something
that you haven’t before, so if anything, it’s an investment in the future
of Halestorm! Tone-wise, it’s a lot
brighter. Because it’s a lighter guitar,
it’s much easier to use on songs I
where have leads or solos.
It fits right there and you can move
it anywhere and not have to worry
about breaking the strap locks or
something like that.
Being primarily a heavier-guitar
girl, it’s like picking up a baseball bat
after you’ve hauled a tree around. It’s
a nice break during the set.
When did the signature model come
about? You said you have a proto-
43
INTERVIEW u
Lzzy Hale
type and an original. What are some
of the specifics you need and how is
it modded accordingly?
Gibson approached me about two
years ago about doing a signature guitar and asked if I had any ideas.
There have been a lot of changes in
upper management at Gibson, so it has
taken longer to get all of it together.
When they told me, “Take some time
to figure out what you want to do,”
literally the next Monday I sent an email of everything I wanted.
It’s a white standard Explorer. I
modded it more aesthetically and with
different pickups. The original version
had the stock 500Ts, which are a great
starting point. I ended up binding the
body because I think that looks amazing. It’s inspired by my first Les Paul
custom, which was white, and also the
Gretsch White Falcon because I love
how that looks. I’m a girl, after all, so
it has to look pretty!
One thing that they loved about
that, and that I had never thought
about before, is that you have this
standard Explorer shape, but I made
it white and gold — a very beautiful
combination of colors — and it brings
femininity into a standard James
Hetfield guitar.
I’ve been experimenting with different pickups. The prototype I have
has some Burstbuckers and they
scream pretty hard, so I’m excited
about this latest version. It’s obviously a work of art, but I’ve also
been very careful with what I’ve put
into it and onto it, because it’s more
important for me that people be able
to afford it.
I don’t want to put out a guitar
that’s an obscene amount of money
and all the little girls that come to our
shows and are starting lessons can’t
afford to get it. I’m very excited and
extremely flattered that Gibson wants
to do this with me. It should go into
production next month and be available hopefully by the beginning of
next year.
You are a longtime Gibson player.
Why are they your preference?
To be really honest, it’s because I
wanted to be a badass. There were
two types of girl musicians in Pennsylvania when I was coming up in the
scene and first started playing guitar.
There were singer/songwriters that
played acoustic, or there were girls
who covered Disturbed and if you
closed your eyes you’d think it was
David Draiman.
My plan from the beginning was
to be in the middle and not abandon
my femininity, but I wanted to be a
badass. A lot of the girls around me
were going for some of the lighter
guitars, and not to knock any of the
more beautiful and hollow guitars,
but I wanted to have a heavy Les Paul
and string it down low.
My dad was a bass player, and the
first type of guitar that I picked up as
a kid was a bass, so maybe subconsciously it’s the thickness of the neck
and the heaviness of the wood.
Les Pauls are the rock and roll
standard. I grew up listening to my
parents’ music, and it was always
a Gibson Les Paul and a Marshall.
That’s still the standard.
I’ve experimented a lot over the
years. The wonderful thing about —
if you want to call it success — the
journey that we’ve been on is that we
have a lot of friends who say, “You
should try this.”
I tried EVH for a while, and now
Halestorm is in the thoes of recording their third album for Atlantic, their first since winning a Best Hard Rock/Metal performance Grammy in 2013.
44
INTERVIEW u
Lzzy Hale
Joe is using that because it sounds
better with his guitars. We do a lot
of that stuff too — one of us will try
something, and if it’s not what we
want, the other one tries it. The good
thing about both Gibson and Marshall is that they don’t fault me for
that. If I want to try something new
in the studio, as long as I continue to
be loyal in some way, I think they’re
cool with it.
I know that works for me, so I keep
going back to that gold standard of
rock and roll: Gibson and Marshall.
Are there any miking techniques
that you swear by to get your sound
in the studio?
We’ve done everything from close
miking to separate rooms. When we
did it ourselves it was, “Mic it as
close as you can, get it as loud as you
can, and it’s going to sound awesome,” even if it obviously doesn’t
sound awesome.
We work with professionals now
when we’re in the studio, and especially going into this third record,
we’re doing a lot more live work.
We plug in and go through the song a
couple of times, experiment with different mics around the room, maybe
put the amp in another room.
We’ve been doing more of that versus any type of plug-ins or things that
you can do on a computer.
We’re in the beginning stages of recording, but I’m excited about going
back to our roots as a live band and
as a foursome and knowing a little bit
more about what not to do this time.
From song to song you can experiment with different things, but right
now we’ve been doing a lot of the
basics live and setting up the way we
would live. We are facing each other
and working the songs out.
It’s amazing the little nuances that
happen when you’re playing together as a band, which is what we
used to do when we were kids. We
didn’t know any better, so we’d set
up just like we played the bar down
FAMILY AFFAIR: Lzzy and Arejay’s dad played bass for Halestorm in the early days.
the street. On the first two records on
Atlantic, we did things differently.
We did all the scratch stuff together
and then we would spend two days
doing drums, two days all of my
guitars, two days all of Joe’s guitars,
then bass guitar, and then vocals, in
that assembly line type of order.
This record is very different. We’re
going to attempt to get most of the
recording done with all four of us in
the room, playing with and to each
other. There are a lot of things that we
want to capture this time.
We want to bridge the gap between
what people hear live and what
people hear in the studio, which have
become two different things. We’re
trying to find a happy middle ground
with that.
You began as a piano player. Did
that provide a basis for learning to
play guitar? Does it factor into your
guitar playing and songwriting?
Absolutely. I keep discovering new
nuances as I get better and learn
more on guitar. I keep recognizing
where and how I learn new things. I
take things structurally. I still see the
guitar kind of as a keyboard.
My rhythm and the things I learned
as a child, the coordination, came
from piano. As a singer, the melodic
parts come from a vocal standpoint
first. Joe has pointed some of these
things out to me as we move along.
Occasionally he has said, “That
wasn’t from a guitar player’s mind.”
I don’t think about things as a guitar
player. I think about things from a
piano and a voice. I used to be really frustrated about that, but now
I’m enjoying the fact that no matter
what I do, if someone sees us for
the first time, they’ll say, “Oh wow,
I wouldn’t have gone there.” In the
studio the producer will say, “You’re
bringing this idea from a unique
perspective.”
I realize that things I thought were
flaws of mine as a guitar player are
actually making me stand out a little
bit more. Everybody learns differently. I would encourage anybody
to learn two instruments because it
broadens your horizons not only as a
songwriter and as a player, but with
musicality in general.
45
INTERVIEW u
Lzzy Hale
There are so many things to learn,
and it keeps me grounded so that
nothing becomes too easy.
How has the dual-guitar working relationship with Joe grown over time?
We write a lot more together instead
of everybody having separate parts.
We do a lot of things with each other
in mind instead of saying, “Here’s my
part, here’s your part, let’s figure out
how not to clash into
each other.”
Working on songs
for this new record,
a lot of the parts
were written based
on how my tone differs from his and
how we can bring
them together.
It’s definitely
evolved over the
years. We’ve known
each other for almost
eleven or twelve
years and we’re
much more comfortable — and also
much more comfortable about telling
each other when one
of us sucks when
obviously we do!
It’s so cool to have somebody to
bounce ideas off of with your instrument. I’m very grateful that I have a
partner in guitar crime.
How do your tones differ?
I’m a lot more mid-range and he’s
a little bit brighter. In the beginning
of our relationship, my brother and I
used to call him “the candy man,” because he worked in more treble parts
and he writes a lot of ethereal things,
just a lot of candy for the songs, these
little hooks that he can weave in and
out, and I was always kind of the
meat and potatoes. We’ve since gone
back and forth, depending, but I’m
definitely more meat and potatoes and
46
he’s more peas and carrots. Together
we make a nice, rounded meal!
We’re right in the middle of writing, and depending on whether I write
the part or Joe writes the part, maybe
he will play that part better, or I will,
or vice versa, so there’s a lot of playing to each other’s strengths.
It’s gotten really weird how we’re
able to know what each other is going
to say or what we’re thinking before
it happens. That freaks me out a little
changing venue sizes and sometimes
playing outdoors?
It depends on the room. To me, that’s
the beauty of touring and how every
night can be a little different. We do
not play with tracks, we don’t have
any trickery, none of that stuff, so it
could sound very different, depending
on the room or the mic situation.
We do the best we can during
soundcheck. Over the years we’ve
gotten pretty good
at knowing what’s
wrong and how to
fix it, and if it’s not
perfect, well, that’s
rock and roll!
Where do you
see changes and
growth in your
playing?
bit. It’s like, “Dude, I don’t want
to be inside of your mind!” But for
some reason we are, and we have a
nice flow going on.
You can stick Arejay and Josh in
any situation; they don’t have to hear
a song at all before, and they’re going
to make it awesome. They have no
problem with that. Joe and I have to
work out our parts and that’s how we
communicate, so by us being more
comfortable doing that, it helps the
entire dynamic of the band get better, but it’s a little uncanny how he
can get inside my mind and I can get
inside his. It’s very strange.
How do you keep your sound
consistent night after night when
I see the growth
when we have
small amounts
of time off tour,
because tour is kind
of like a blur. You
don’t think you’re
getting better as a
musician, because
obviously things
happen, you make
mistakes, and it’s kind of hard to
see that growth until you get off
tour. Then you’re working out these
new parts and new songs, you’re in
the studio under a microscope and,
“Wow, I wasn’t able to do that last
year! That’s sweet!” So I gauge it
against that.
It’s never-ending with everything,
whether it’s the piano, voice, and
especially the guitar because that’s a
passion of mine that I always feel I’m
on the back end. You’re always one
notch below, and then you see someone that shreds and it’s “Oh, I’ve got
to learn that!”
It’s never-ending striving to be
better. It’s a never-ending challenge,
and it’s always fun. I know the place
INTERVIEW u
where I’m trying to learn something
new — a new part, a new song — and
there’s a moment maybe ten minutes
in where it’s, “I am never going to
learn this. I don’t have the skills. I
don’t have the drive. This is frustrating.” Maybe three or four minutes
later it’s, “Oh, wait, that sounds better.” I think I’m addicted to that, too,
that proving to yourself that nothing
is impossible. That keeps me going.
How much of that is practice and
how much of it is playing in front of
audiences and seeing what they like
and what does and doesn’t work?
When you tour for twenty months, is
there even time to practice?
The guys and I make a point of it. We
have small travel amps in the bus and
we’ll work on new songs or just jam
on some stuff.
We also take time during soundchecks, especially if it’s our own
show and we can take some time to
do that. We try to find time here and
there. It’s like anything else. Can you
find time to work out? Sometimes.
It’s not a very consistent schedule,
so you do the best you can. A lot of
it is going over songs. I’ll do certain
things with Joe and we’ll start with,
“Maybe we should do some scales, at
least some pentatonic ones, to warm
up.” We end up going into something
else, so the actual scales and that kind
of thing never pan out for long.
Every time you sit down with an
instrument there’s always the chance
that you’re going to write something
new, and whatever you sat down to
do you’re not going to finish because
you discovered something else.
What were your goals when you began playing guitar versus what are
your goals now?
When I first stared playing guitar I
got frustrated with lessons. I wanted
to plug in and figure out how to get to
the point where I could play live the
next week. I want to play a song.
I took a few lessons, but not as
many as I wish that I had. I ended up
learning primarily by ear and using
the piano as a guide, but it took me
a lot longer that way. It was a lot
shorter for me to get out there and
fake it for a while and not know what
key I was playing in, but it took me a
lot longer to understand the fretboard
because I was doing it on my own.
I didn’t have a teacher to say,
“That’s the wrong technique. You
should do it this way. It’s easier.”
With that being said, the band has
been my obsession since I was 13,
when I wanted to be a badass and
play guitar, so the goal was, “What’s
the quickest way from A to B so that
I can play this badass guitar onstage
and be awesome?”
My goals have changed over the
years. Now it’s, “If I were in the most
awkward situation ever and had to
play and jam with one of my idols
right now on television, would I be
comfortable and be able to rip it, or
would I fall flat on my face?”
My goal is to put myself in more
uncomfortable situations and try to
work my way out of them, because
right now with Halestorm a lot of the
stuff that’s been coming in has been
very last minute and, “Hey, can you
do this? Can you get vocals here? Can
you play guitar on this record?”
I did something for ESPN a little
while ago. I knew I would sing some
songs, they asked me to come in and
do something with them, but they
didn’t clarify what.
An hour before I got into the studio
with them, they said, “Bring your
guitar. We have a whole section for
you to solo.” I was like, “Oh man, if
you had told me this a month ago, I’d
have a slammin’ solo!”
I did it, but being in that situation
was like, “Whoa, I need to prepare
for anything now, because I don’t
want to miss an opportunity just because I wasn’t prepared.”
Halestorm is touring with Eric
Church and you performed with him
Lzzy Hale
at the CMT Awards. How did that
come about?
The tour came first, oddly enough.
Some of his bandmates are total rock
and metal fans. They introduced him
to us and he became a fan.
They were looking for bands to open
up for their November tour and they
were looking to do something a little
out of the box. That’s how Eric Church
is, from what I’ve gathered from hanging out with him now; he definitely
wants to freak some people out.
He offered us the gig and we said,
“Dude, sure, are you kidding? We
might sound like Slayer to these
people, but that’ll be awesome!”
A few weeks after we confirmed
the tour, Eric called me and said,
“I’m performing on the CMTs
and they want me to play my new
single, but I don’t want to do that.
I want to do ‘That’s Damn Rock &
Roll,’ but I told them I’d only play
it if you sang with me, so will you
sing that with me?”
I said, “Sure! Of course!” I have to
tell you, I had butterflies, because I
thought, this could go one way or the
other. They’ll either really like this
or they’re going to be like, “What the
hell is this? Who the hell is she and
why is she here?”
At that time I wasn’t very familiar
with the current country scene and
hadn’t been listening to country radio.
I knew about Eric Church, but we
hadn’t met. We met literally the day
before for rehearsals for the CMTs
and ran through the song a couple of
times. He’s just the nicest guy, and
his bandmates remind me of my own
bandmates, so we hit it off.
We were walking onstage to perform
the song and he said, “Just do your
thing.” It was awesome. Since then,
we’ve gained a lot of new fans. The
community is very accepting, and I’ve
gotten together with a lot of different
songwriters in the Nashville area.
I’ve written two songs with Eric
Church and I’m looking forward to
the tour. G
47
Impress or regress? Many vendors were of two minds
convention question... “Did you have a good show?”
BY THE numbers, the 2014 edition of the Summer NAMM show in
Nashville was a success. The organizers touted the mid-year gathering as
the largest by number of exhibiting
companies since 2006 -- a total of
436 exhibitors representing 1,510
brands debuted products on the floor.
Of those, just over 100 were new to
the Summer NAMM exhibition and
another 112 returned to the show after
a hiatus.
Organizers added that the number of
buyers attending the show increased
another 5% over 2013, which saw
an 8% increase over 2012. In total,
12,442 people registered for the event.
“NAMM members who attended
Summer NAMM are leaving Nashville with a competitive edge to
succeed in the second half of the
year,” said Joe Lamond, president and
chief executive of NAMM. “We are
grateful to the members who shared
their paths to success with their peers
during breakfast sessions and the Top
100 Dealers Awards. Together we will
continue to strengthen our industry.”
48
s when it came time to answer the all-important postOne trend that continues for the
show is the growth in small shop
presence. Many of the newer exhibitors appeared to be one and two-man
operations. The accessories category
was also over-represented on the floor
with near double-digit guitar strap
manufacturers and over a dozen guitar pick companies represented.
But, was it a ‘good show’? Our
impromptu, non-scientific poll was
fairly split with the slight edge towards ‘yes’. Foot traffic was steady,
but rarely busy. Purchase order
activity was minimal, but historically
the summer show yields its share of
physical orders in the weeks following the expo.
Not everybody went home happy,
however. At least one amp builder
packed up his booth at the end of day
one and went home after a run-in with
the Summer NAMM sound police.
Ironically, it was the same builder
whose product stood front-and-center
as country legend Vince Gill wowed
the crowd at the official pre-show
opening party Wednesday night. G
Our Summer NAMM Top Picks
49
WRAP-UP u
Summer NAMM 2014 Top Picks
PROTOTYPES!
TC MINIS
SOMETIMES the news at a trade show isn’t necessarily prominently displayed on the show floor.
Sometimes it is lurking underneath a table or behind
an amp cab. Case in point, strolling by the 3rd Power Amplification stand we encountered session man
Ford Thurston giving a pair of prototype pedals the
once-over - Vertex’s upcoming T*Pre and Rockett
Pedals’ imminent Archer overdrive. The Vertex box
is meant to give you that vintage Trainwreck tone,
while the Archer cops more of a Klon sound. Both
sounded mighty fine through 3P’s American Dream
and Ford’s Telecaster. Both pedals are expected to
be out later this year.
LOOKING back, we’re not sure who to credit for
the start of the mini pedal revolution. It seems a ton
of small, pedal board-friendly stomps have flooded
the market over the past three years or so... but we
think we know who to credit with ending it. TC
Electronic may have produced the perfect minis
with their new Tone Print-capable line of nano boxes. Listening to the show floor demos of the Hall Of
Fame mini and it effortlessly taking tone instruction
from Russell Gray’s iPhone, and him transforming
them into a deep, chambered swell of Pink Floyd
goodness was enough for us to close the book on
minis. It is hard to imagine anyone doing it better.
codella guitars
A BRAND new family-run shop
from the San Francisco area,
Codella Guitars made the trek to
Nashville for the first time to show
off its brand of futuristic, but familiar guitars. Owner Dan Codella
Sr. and his son Dan Jr. showcased
a growing line of handiwork
forged by the former’s uncles,
David and Donald Johnson.
The guitars consist of modern
design appointments mixed with
classic car paint and some simple,
yet innovated, touches - like the
magnetic back plate, flush-mount
pick guard and build-in ‘tool kit’.
50
Sporting names like Dreamchaser
(dual humbuckers), Surfchaser
(three single coils) and Stormchaser (dual humbuckers, kill
switch), the is something here for
all genres... from blues to rock,
metal and beyond.
“Everyone in our family is passionate about the instrument,” said
Codella Sr. “While it seems that
most of the major guitar companies have slowed in their innovation, we are working day and night
to bring new features that add real
playability enhancements that guitar players will appreciate.”
WRAP-UP u
Summer NAMM 2014 Top Picks
SUPRO AMPS
LAST year the amp world
got an old classic back in
the form of Magnatone.
This year? It’s Supro.
David Koltai, head hog
at Pigtronix, and his partners have resurrected the
vintage brand in the form
of a quartet of combos the 24-watt, 1x12” DualTone, 35-watt, 1 x 15”
Thunderbolt, 35/45/60watt, 1 x 15” Thunderbolt
Plus and the 35-watt, 2 x
10” Coronado.
We were floored by not
only the sound of the new
Supros, but the price as
well. The current offer-
ings will set you back
between around $1100
to $1250. The US-build
amps started shipping to
stores in August.
And, if you’re aching
a bit for a reissue of that
vintage Supro guitar...
you’re in luck. Thanks to
a partnership with Glenn
Sweetwood at Sweetwood
Guitars, they are en route
as well!
JACKSON
AMPWORKS
McFLY
Keller, Texas-based ampsmiths debuted a new range in Nashville, and
this tweed-inspired beauty was best
in show!
BRAD Jackson and his crew of
merry amp men brought down the
house with not one, not two, but
three new amp models debuting at
Summer NAMM 2014.
While each was a modern take
on classic tones of the past, our
ears were drawn in by the tweedy
punch and flexibility of the McFly.
Inspired by Marty McFly’s Johnny
B Goode tone from the 1985 classic ‘Back To The Future’, new
amp features a pair of 6L6 power
tubes, two 6V6 power tubes (tubes
switchable), two 6SN7 preamp
tubes, a Body switch for controlling
low-end, a ‘50s/‘60s mode and
power scaling.
If tweed is not your bag, you
can try Jackson’s new 20/40-watt
Fullerton or the 60/120-watt,
ultra-clean Bakersfield. Those
compact tone titans might be
more up your alley.
51
DOWN THE
RABBIT HOLE,
ALICE!
The groovy gear collection of Satellite’s Adam Grimm is an other-worldly fantasy
IT’S AN otherwise unremarkable building in a middle class neighborhood
just north of San Diego -- a multi-story
duplex perched atop a hill within shouting distance of I-5.
From the street, it looks like it could
be a small engine repair or machine
shop of sorts, but inside is the world
headquarters for Satellite Amplification, a boutique outfit founded by
Adam Grimm in 2002 that creates
no-nonsense, plug-and-play rock-androll machines that seldom feature more
than three controls... and usually just
Volume and Tone knobs.
The main floor houses workstations
Don’t let the Avril Lavigne Signature Fender Squire Telecaster fool you. Adam Grimm
(opposite) is a serious gear hound with a taste for early Marshall and Fender amps
and their respective offshoots.
for the electronics assembly and other
‘business-end’ duties, but through a
door tucked back and to the right of the
entry, a metal spiral staircase takes you
into an expanded work area, and the
rooms that also house the majority of
Grimm’s impressive and ever-growing
amplifier and guitar collection.
COLLECTION PROFILE u
Adam Grimm
GEARPHORIA: Do you recall the first
amp you bought as a collector piece
and not something that you really
wanted to play?
ADAM: I always wanted to play all of
them. When I first started amassing
gear it was never because I wanted to
collect it. It was pieces that I wanted
to play. The first piece that I actually
bought because it was a collector’s
piece was a blue CMI 2x12 combo.
CMI is owned by Marshall... and
it’s the only one I have ever seen
in my entire life. It is the only blue
Marshall I have ever seen in my entire life. I don’t play it very often...
and it is the most expensive amp I’ve
ever bought.
It sounds great... a 50-watt Marshall
with reverb, but I disconnected the
reverb, just because Marshalls don’t
need reverb. It’s got two Creamback
30-watters in it and it sounds like a
big, 50-watt Marshall. It’s heavy, it’s
big and it’s blue... and it sits over
there in the corner most of the time.
I try and play everything at least
once a year... and it is about time to
go around and do that. I used to try
and do it about ever six months, but
I just don’t have as much time as I
used to. It cost me $4,500. It is the
third most expensive piece of gear
I have ever bought and it is by far
the most expensive amplifier I have
ever bought. It is one of those things
where I’m sure I could probably get
that back out of it if I chose to sell it,
but I probably won’t. I don’t have to.
That is the only amp I’ve spent
more than $2000 on. Everything else
has been less than that on the amp
side. I just happened to have the
money at the time and I knew where
it was. I had seen it in books and I
knew its history... and the guy was
willing to sell it. So I bought it.
But in the grand scheme of ‘favorite
amps’... if there was a fire, the only
reason to grab that one is because
it is worth more than anything else.
Sonically, I would grab other amplifiers first.
54
Tops in Grimm’s amp collection is this CMJ combo, a rare Marshall offshoot brand, and his ‘63 Fender
Bassman, which he claims sounds like no other he’s ever heard.
What sounds to you gravitate towards? What are your preferences?
My sonic preferences... it usually
depends on what amps they are. Different amps do different things. One
of my favorites is this ’63 Bassman
sitting next to me. It’s Fender, but it’s
rock... and very developmental in the
history of how music changed and
everything else, and in my opinion
might be the single best amp Fender
ever made. I like this one better than
I like the tweeds, even though the
tweeds are worth more.
For me, when I plug into an amplifier... anybody’s amplifier... and I
have a guitar, I try and pick up a
guitar I know. One that is familiar
to me or that at least I have a rough
idea of how it sounds. So when I plug
in at a store... the sonic picture that
I’m looking for... I have a couple of
the same licks, riffs that will give
me a rough sonic picture of how that
sounds compared to other things.
Part of it has to do with the harmonic
content. Some of it has to do with the
sustain... the aggressiveness, the lowend that you get out of it. Distortion...
the gain characteristics. Frequency
response... highs and lows. It’s this
giant picture of all of that into one as to
whether I like an amplifier or not.
There are some that are... for lack
of a better word ‘magical’. There is
something about them... some mojo
there that makes them extra spe-
TASTE THE RAINBOW: Grimm admits having a thing for color versions of classic Marshalls, but no two
amps are the same model. Below is a desert island Silvertone he received as a gift.
cial. Usually that has to do with the
frequency response one way or the
other, whether it’s richer, fuller, more
extended. There are some amplifiers
that I’ve had that are pretty good and
I know something like that I can bring
back to my shop and make it sound
better. Then, there are some straight
out of the box that there is nothing to
do to make it sound any better.
There is an old Silvertone over
there - a 1954 Silvertone. It’s a
50-watt. Technically it’s a stereo
amplifier. It is one of those that
you plug into and it’s Bo Diddley.
That’s what it is. It sounds like that
classic rock tone. It’s got this thick,
drippy tremolo on it. This vintage,
rockabilly-esque distortion. It’s got
this great clarity of the high notes.
Because it’s got the two 12s in it
and it’s 50 watts, it has got a good
low-end thump. If you’re playing
a big arch-toppy, fat guitar with
low-output pickups, it is just perfect.
There is nothing I could do to make
it sound better.
Do you recall where you got that
Silvertone combo?
That amplifier... there is a gentleman that comes into the shop named
‘Indian Joe’. He is a great local
musician... and a good friend now. He
brought in this little Carvin amplifier
that he had, two EL84s... I forget the
model name. It was one of the proto-
Adam Grimm
types from the Carvin factory he had
gotten because he was friends with
the Carvin family. It had caught fire...
and nobody could fix it.
Because it was a prototype, Carvin
didn’t have any replacement circuit boards to drop in and fix it. He
was upset because it was one of his
favorite amplifiers. So we went in and
re-created a bunch of the traces and
fixed the circuit board and got it running again. He was thrilled.
About three months later I get a call
from Indian Joe and he told me he
had something for me. He had seen
something in a thrift store that he
knew I had to have. So he comes by
the shop... with this Silvertone.
I told him that I had to pay him. It
was too nice of a gift. He was like
‘No, no... it doesn’t work.’ So, okay...
I looked in the back and the rectifier tube was missing. I put a rectifier tube in it and turned it on and
it worked fine. I told him again... I
couldn’t just accept this as a gift, but
he was quite insistent. So... he’s gotten quite a few free repairs over the
years. He gets a lot of ‘good friend’
credit because of that. It is just one of
those amps. If there is a fire that’s one
of the amps that is coming with me. I
can’t replace it.
How many amps to do own?
I don’t know. (laughs)
North of 50?
Yes.
North of 100? Still buying?
No. I think I’ve got about 70...
maybe 80. Should be about the same
on guitars, but I think I’ve got more
guitars than amplifiers. So I think
I can plug one guitar into every
amplifier. We’ve dimmed the lights
in here a couple of times. I still look
(to buy), but I’m a lot more selective
regarding what I’m after.
There are a couple of pieces that I
55
Adam Grimm
THE RACK: Grimm keeps a number of guitars out and at the ready to test new Satellites as they are built. Can you name these?
am actively searching out right now,
but a lot of the stuff at this point is if
I go into a store and see something
that I don’t have that I like and have
to have. There was an old Gibson
amplifier that I used to have, but
sold years ago. I wish I hadn’t. So
I’m looking to replace that... an old
‘30s EH-125. It was one of the first
vintage pieces that I ever got.
I had a couple of old Gibson amplifiers that I had to sell at some point...
for money. Basically to pay rent and
stuff. I didn’t think I’d be doing much
with my musical career at the time...
and I didn’t know that I’d be doing
this, so I sold them. That’s the one
that I really wished I hadn’t. I’ll find
it. I’ve got time.
The nice position about being where
I’m at is that I don’t need anything.
If you need something, you’re going
to pay for it. It’s about want. A lot of
the stuff I like is the oddball, freakish stuff. I’ve got, or had, a lot of the
‘regular’ stuff... a variety of Marshalls,
Parks, Fenders, Selmers, Silvertones
and whatnot. If a Vox AC15 stumbled
in here and it was cheap I would buy
it. It is something that I would like to
have, but I’m not going to go out and
pay collector prices for because I don’t
really need it.
56
The other big issue for some of us
is that it has be stuff that we can’t
make. There are some amps that I
can probably get 90% there. The big
thing that you can’t duplicate is the
age, especially when you’re talking
about combos and stuff... but I can
get pretty close with some of it. I say
that, but I’ve never really built any
clones for myself.
When I first started doing Satellite...
probably a year into it, somebody
wanted a Tweed Deluxe and I had
never built one before. We bought
four or five kits from Mission Amps
and put them all together all at once,
just to understand how they work and
to understand the kit making process
for amplifiers. I didn’t keep any of
them. They are all gone. I think I
know where two of them are. Again,
not something I build for myself.
I did it to learn the circuit and
make a couple for other people. I
think that is the last time I actually
built a clone of anything... and that
was eight years ago.
What about Park? What do you like
about them that you have so many
of them?
Part of the whole Marshall story is
that there are a bunch of different
off-shoots, and part of the reason the
Park struck me, beside the fact that
it is an oddball, when Jim Marshall
sold the rights to distribute Marshall
to Rose-Morris, one of his really
good friends who was a Marshall
dealer was going to lose the rights to
Marshall. Jim Marshall felt bad and
was out to dinner with the guy and his
wife. Jim asked the woman what her
maiden name was... and it was Park.
So Jim, and Ken Bran, took a bunch
of the old parts and made Parks...
so his friend could still sell them.
Because that’s what you do for your
friends. That is the only reason they
ever made them.
So it ended up being this off-shoot
line... and they are slightly different from their Marshall counterparts.
They are similar, but different. The
ones I have here... this is a ’72 Bass
75 and it of all of the Marshalls I
have in this room it is the best-sounding Marshall variant. If there is a fire,
that one is coming out. It’s on the list.
I know what is different in the circuit.
I know why it sounds different... it
just sounds that much better than
everything else. Each of the different Marshalls that are in here are all
different... all different models for
some different reason. I do like the
colored ones because they are more
rare, harder to find... and they make
me happy.
With all of them it came down to
that’s the one I would keep if I had
to chose. That orange Marshall Super
Bass... it is not just that it is a bass
version of the amplifier. There is
something more to them. Those amplifiers are really both extra special.
We’ve gone in there... checked
the voltages, checked the transformers, make sure it’s not the tubes, the
speakers... all of that. Those two
heads just sound really good. The
other one is this red one... a modified
master volume 100-watter. That’s my
number three of vintage amplifiers.
This Park 4x12 here is the only
Park 4x12 I’ll ever own. It is also
made by Marshall, but... it’s different. The way they mounted the baffles
is different -- they go in from the
front instead of from the rear. The
other difference is that this is about
an eighth of an inch thinner plywood
than a Marshall cab, and it makes a
humongous difference. Also, it’s a
slant... but it’s a straight slant. I was
on a private discussion group with
builders. We would post pictures of
our own stuff and talk about different
things. What we would like to see in
the industry and whatnot. A couple of
us started posting Park amp photos.
I commented that someone ought
to start remaking these. I knew that
Bruce Zinky owned the Park name
having bought it years ago, but he had
Adam Grimm
only put the Park logo on his little
smokey amplifiers. He had talked
about remaking them, but I don’t
know if he ever planned to or not. I
got a call from Mitch Colby who let
me in on his secret, which is not a
secret anymore, that he had bought
the name from Zinky and recreated
the original Park topmounts.
He did a divine job. He sourced everything as originally as he possibly
could... the parts, the transformers are
made like the originals, new old stock
resistors, mustard caps, etc... He
made a phenomenal amplifier. It’s an
early blues/rock, first version JTM45
style amp.
What amps would you snap up if you
ran across them tomorrow?
TOP AXES: Grimm’s No. 1 guitar is this 1959 Gibson Les Paul Jr., while his most pricey pieces are these rare Stromberg archtops.
57
Adam Grimm
ONE OF THESE THINGS IS NOT LIKE THE OTHERS: Among Grimm’s collection of vintage Fender combos is a Sidekick Reverb 25... the first amp he ever owned.
I would take a low power Tweed
Twin, a high power Tweed Twin or
a Blonde Twin in a heartbeat. I’d
love to have one of those big amplifiers. I’d take an AC4, 10 or 15. I
don’t have any of those. I suppose
if anybody wanted to hand me a
’59 Bassman... any of the Tweed
Bassmans, I’d take it. I’m probably
not going to go out and aggressively
try and find it. I’ll get a Tweed or
a Blonde Twin. I know I’ll get an
AC15, eventually. There are a couple
of other more interesting ones.
I wouldn’t mind a Watkins Dominator, just because it’s a phenomenal
amp. A Gibson ’79 RBT - the true
stereo vibrato that Gibson did with
reverb and tremolo. The two 10s
point out in different directions. That
would definitely be high on my list of
things to find. But even after I found
those, I would still be looking.
The collection never really ends.
My general rule is that if don’t play
something within a year I should get
rid of it. It should belong to somebody else... and I still kind of feel that
way, but I don’t have as much free
time as I used to.
A V-front Super! There’s another I’d
like to have. I want a Narb too. That’s
another Marshall offshoot. Nobody
knows how many of those were made.
There might be a dozen of them? It’s
a Marshall. Ken Bran’s name spelled
backwards. The same guy I got the
CMI amp off of... he had one. I think
he wants around $4,000 for it, but
58
that’s too much money. It really is just
that piece of plastic. There is no real
difference at all, but it would be fun to
have. It’s a Narb!
How many guitars do you have?
I have more guitars than amplifiers.
The guitars are not all here. There is
probably 80. Less than 100 I think.
I used to have a list. That ’59 LP Jr
(Red) is the one I play the most. The
’58 LP Jr. (TV Yellow) had been in
a flood and the neck and wings had
popped off and got put back together.
It’s a great guitar. My other top shop
guitar is a ’71 Les Paul Deluxe. I’ve
got guitars from Cardinal, M-Tone,
Kauer, Tiesco, Silvertone, Squire,
Echopark and more. There is a Dean
Flying V over there. There is actually
one upstairs and this one downstairs.
It’s got a metal pickup and I got to
know how that sounds.
What is your most expensive guitar?
My top dollar guitar is a Stromberg
arch top. He died in 1955 and made
around 300 guitars. He was one
of these inspirational people as I
was getting into music, he was one
of those builders where I was like
‘Wow! That is amazing!’
The story goes that Elmer’s father
Charles Stromberg used to make
banjos. He used to work for Vega. He
would steal parts, bring them home
and he would make instruments in
his shop and sell them. Maybe he
was allowed to... no one really knows
that part of the story. They also made
mandolins, banjolins... four-string,
five-string, eight-string. Elmer, in the
mid-30s, started making guitars.
When he started his first serial number was 301, so when people would
see it they would think he had made
300 guitars and think that he was
more experienced than he was. When
he died, 637 was unfinished.
Elmer would go around and find
buildings that were being torn down
and get the wood. He was basically
D’Angelico that didn’t have
the money to do the things that
D’Angelico could. He was a contemporary of his and made absolutely
phenomenal arch tops.
There is no glue in his neck joints.
It is just a perfect fit. Hand cut.
There are great luthiers today, but
this is a guy that truly knew his
craft. I’ve got two of them and they
are absolutely wonderful.
I paid $5,500 for one and $5,000
for the other -- the only two guitars
I’ve ever spent $5,000 or more on.
By comparison I paid $2,800 for that
cherry ’59 LP Jr.
Before I did this I owned a vintage
clothing store, so history and craftsmanship has always been something
that intrigued me. The more I learn
about it the more I am involved in the
story. At one point we tried to track
down the Strombergs and probably
found about a third of them. G
AXE FORENSICS
Herington almost
always does serious
mods to his guitars
post-purchase. His
CS336 has had three
or four fret jobs to
date, with Herington
always going for a
‘big, tall’ fret.
Herington repositioned the
toggle switch so he could have
that master volume control in the
position closest to his right hand
while playing, since he likes to
adjust the volume control a lot
during a show.
The stock Gibson humbuckers have been
replaced by a set of
custom-wound humbuckers by Jim Rolph. Acccording to Herington, they are
quite a bit ‘less hot’ than
the originals and he hears
more of the sound of the
guitar and a little less of
the pickups with them.
He prefers a master volume
control over the typical Gibson
design of a volume control for
each pickup, so all Herington’s
Gibsons get rewired, like the 336
has been. Now he has a single
volume control and a tone control
for each pickup. The extra fourth
knob is unconnected. He also has
an electronic network installed
that insures that there’s no loss of
high end when he rolls back the
volume on the guitar.
Jon Herington’s Gibson CS336
SHORTLY after his first year with Steely Dan, an
old friend and ex-college roommate who had
done well for himself post-studies told Jon Herington that he wished to ‘share the wealth’ so to
speak and buy him his ‘dream guitar’. The gesture
was both flattering and chuckle-worthy. Herington had already been buying and playing guitar
long enough to know that there was a big difference between the fantasy of a ‘dream guitar’ and
the reality of any particular guitar, and he knew
that there probably could be no such thing as a
single ‘dream guitar’ for him. After all, the reason
most pro players have multiple guitars is because
no one axe can do it all.
Ultimately, having no reason to refuse the generosity, Herington began leisurely thinking about
which guitar he would choose. Soon, leisure gave
way to intrigue.
“It quickly became a question of identity,”
recalls Herington. “I realized that if I had to
sum up my most personal and natural stylistic
leanings applied to the choice of a guitar, I’d
have to find a guitar that was flexible enough
to sound good whether I was playing jazz, rock,
or blues, since all of those styles felt like a part
of me. I grew up playing a Les Paul Deluxe and
fell in love very early with the guitar sounds of
the British invasion as a whole, but I was mostly
drawn to the tone of Eric Clapton’s guitar on the
live tracks on the Wheels of Fire record, and that
sound is pretty close to what I tend to aim for
when I’m playing rock or blues. But I also spent
enough time studying jazz, and grew to love the
sounds of the great jazz guitarists, so I needed a
guitar that could support me if I leaned a bit in
that direction as well. I had been playing a 335
that sounded very good to me, but I had always
found it a bit unwieldy, particularly when having
to switch from it to smaller bodied guitars, like a
Fender Telecaster I was also frequently playing.”
One day, Herington drifted into Rudy’s Music
Shop on 48th St. in New York. He played a Gibson
CS336 that day and realized the guitar was close
to what he had been thinking about - his ‘dream’
fit. He left the store, but returned two weeks
later to play the guitar again. It was gone. Sold.
Another CS336 had just arrived, but after playing
the new one Herington began to question his
initial conclusion as there was nothing appealing
or compelling about this guitar. Disappointment
set in and he walked away again.
A month later, back at Rudy’s, the second CS336
had sold and was replaced by a third - a Gibson
Custom Shop model. It was the best of the three...
full-range and alive. He bought it.
It has been his ‘go-to’ guitar ever since and has appeared on his own albums as well as on records like
Two Against Nature and Everything Must Go by Steely
Dan; Morph the Cat and Sunken Condos by Donald
Fagen; and Circus Money by Walter Becker. G
GEAR REVIEWS u
Protocaster ‘60s Single Cut
E
IV
EXCLUS
Beyond prototypical
The Protocaster ‘60 Single Cut is an exercise in cool
LET’S face it. There are a lot of
S-style and T-style guitars out there.
From the cheesiest pawn shop fodder
to the most meticulous custom shop
masterpiece, and at a distance it can
be hard to tell them apart. However,
once you get one in your hands you
can typically separate the wheat from
the chaff tout de suite. There are the
Stratospheric-casters, then there are
the ‘fall a-partscasters’. Fortunately
for the discriminating gearhead that
puts an emphasis on craftsmanship
60
over volume shipped there are a number of small builders doing it right.
Case in point, Brooklyn’s Josh Grove.
Grove makes his Protocasters
from a small, basement shop in the
Williamsburg area. Known widely in
custom shop circles for his aging and
finishing techniques, Grove applies
that knowledge and diligent handwork to every Protocaster he makes.
As the name implies, Grove thinks
of his guitars as ‘prototypes’ of the
old classics that never made it to
production, discovered after decades
in the back of a dusty storeroom.
Grove works the wood by hand to
give it the fit and feel of a 1950s- or
1960s-era instrument. A paper-thin
coat of nitrocellulose lacquer is
buffed to a shine, then distressed
to give each guitar a convincingly
weathered, vintage appearance.
Our review Protocaster ‘60s Single
Cut features an aged shoreline gold
paint job, swamp ash body and maple
neck with rosewood fretboard. The
GEAR REVIEWS u
The neck pickup gives you the
bloom one would expect without
sacrificing articulation or clarity.
Through a Marshall-style amp, the
Protocaster shows it is capable of the
organic classic rock growl of Page
and Springsteen as well as the more
modern mojo of a player like Johnny
Greenwood and John 5.
The guitar’s voice (and aesthetic)
allow it to chameleon in and out of
genres without much coaxing.
At right around $2,000, Protocaster
guitars are unique specimens in the
crowded S-style and T-style market.
A praise-worthy blend of balance and
playability, our review guitar delivers on the promise of both looking
and feeling like the classic California
brand from which it draws its inspiration, exuding both the charm and
chops of the early-stage authenticity
it aspires to.
For players in the market for an old
school classic, we’d be hard pressed
not to recommend test driving a Protocaster right out of the gate. G
PHOTOS: JOSH SEATON
fretboard features handmade clay fret
markers. The guitar is loaded with
Peter Florence TE-60 pickups.
Strapped on, the Protocaster is a
comfortable, well-balanced guitar
with solid fit and finish. The thin
nitrous skin does offer up a true
aged appearance giving a companion aesthetic to the vintage feel of
the instrument.
The neck is more curved and sits
deeper in hand than the one on the
Fender Highway One Tele from the
late 2000s we have in studio. The
neck’s finish offers a good gliding
surface for moving up and down the
fretboard. It’s a fast, but not greasy
fast experience.
Running the Protocaster through
a Fender Princeton Reverb Reissue
we get the snap and twang expected
through the bridge pickup mixed
with an underlying sense of warmth
from the instrument itself. It’s not
too bright and feels a bit more big
city rock and roll than Smoky Mountains country.
Protocaster ‘60s Single Cut
PROTOCASTER
‘60s SINGLE CUT
Body: Swamp Ash
Neck: Maple
Fretboard: Rosewood
Color: Aged Shoreline Gold in nitrocellulose lacquer finish
Pickups: Peter Florance TE-60s
Weight: 6.8 lbs
Price: $1,950
61
GEAR REVIEWS u
Old Blood Noise Endeavors Black Fountain
E
IV
EXCLUS
Getting blood and oil to mix
A new pedal company hits paydirt with an old school ‘oil can’ delay tribute
WHEN Brady Smith, one of the
founders and public face of pedal
upstart Walrus Audio, stepped away
from the effects scene a lot of folks
wondered if he might resurface with
a new outfit. After a few months
of hinting around and some photo
teases, Old Blood Noise Endeavors
sprung to life, and with it its first
product - the Black Fountain delay.
With the Black Fountain, Brady
and Old Blood Noise Endeavors partner Seth McCarroll set out to emulate the sounds captured by vintage
‘oil can’ delays -- pedals that used
oil (some say dangerous oil) to help
create the echo effect, long before
62
the days of bucket brigade chips or
today’s digital technology. Think the
Morley Electrostatic Delay Line and
the other vintage Tel-Ray units.
The oil would help maintain a seal
and insulate the effect-making mojo
-- mainly a belt that would interact
with wire brushes.
The result was a usually choruslike echo with warm repeats.
The Old Blood Noise Endeavors
Black Fountain sports five controls
-- Time, Feedback, Mix and Fluid
knobs, and a three-way mini-toggle
to select from Modern, Organ and
Vintage modes. Time adjusts delay
time. Feedback sets the number of
repeats. Mix takes your signal from
dry to wet as you turn right. The
Fluid knob adds in the signature
modulation warble of the old style oil
can effects.
Plugged in, the Black Fountain
offers a good mix of delay flavors, especially for those who love
rounder, darker repeats. In Modern
mode, the pedal is a bit brighter and
can cop everything from slap-back
to more atmospheric soundscapes.
Vintage mode works the same, except
the voicing goes grittier and a touch
more aggressive. Maximum delay
time for both Modern and Vintage
modes is 800 milliseconds.
Exploring the Vintage and Modern
modes can conjure some delicate
and unique sounds, and even with
the Feedback completely maxed, and
with long delays, the pedal holds it
together and never quite starts into
self-oscillation.
In Organ mode you get a shorter
delay time (211 milliseconds) like
that of the vintage Tel-Ray Deluxe
Organ Tone. Here, the Feedback
knob acts as a depth control and
Time is the rate. Dime the Mix control in this mode and adjust the other
controls to taste for a dusky, moody
tremolo effect.
At $199, the Black Fountain, currently available only through the Old
Blood Noise Endeavors website, lands
at a good price point for a speciality
delay pedal. If you are in the market
for a ‘dim-the-lights and fire up the
incenses’ type of ‘60s-inspired dreamstate delay, you’ll be interested in a
pull from this milkshake. G
Old Blood Noise Endeavors Black Fountain
PHOTOS: JOSH SEATON
GEAR REVIEWS u
OLD BLOOD NOISE ENDEAVORS
BLACK FOUNTAIN
Controls: Four knobs (Time, Feedback, Mix,
Fluid), One toggle (Modern, Organ, Vintage)
Dimensions: W: 2.5” H: 2.25” D: 4.75”
Weight: 8.9 oz.
Price: $199
63
GEAR REVIEWS u
Dwarfcraft Devices Memento and more
Kill! Re-Kill!
This simple device is smarter than your average kill switch
KILL switches are cool... and guitarists use them a lot more than you
probably realize. Several guitar
brands have models with them built
in, or the ability to take a simple mod
to install one... or of course, there is
the tried and true method of using
your pickup selector switch.
Pros like Buckethead, Tom Morello
and the like are widely known for
their kill switch prowess. It is expressive and simple. Our old pal Aen at
Dwarfcraft Devices has taken the kill
switch mechanics, put it in a pedal
and given it a brain.
The pedal, the Memento, is simple
and straight-forward. There are
just two foot switches, and they are
labeled Kill and Re-Kill. The Kill
switch (right side) is a tap tempo
that allows the user to tap in a kill
rhythm, which using its brain the
Memento remembers.
The Re-Kill switch (left side)
recalls that pattern and applies it to
whatever is played while engaged
and loops it. Hitting the Kill switch
again while the sequence is going
doubles (and can also quadruple) the
speed of that sequence.
DWARFCRAFT DEVICES
MEMENTO
Controls: Two footswitches... topmounted jacks, 9v power jack
Dimensions: W: 4.75” H: 2.25” D: 2.5”
Weight: 8.2 oz.
Price: $125
Dwarfcraft intentionally left the
glitchy, clicking noise from the tap
switch in the pattern, which may not
be to everyone’s liking, but for sound
hounds that dig artifacts in their song
sculpting, the Memento could be a key
ingredient to a tasty pot of sonic stew. G
Smell a rat?
The Blakemore R.O.U.S. does exist, and means what you think it means
THE Blakemore R.O.U.S. mixes in
vermin versatility and sewer-dwelling
definition to a well-known circuit’s
classic distortion palette.
The pedal sports five knob controls - Volume, Gain, Texture, Bass
and Treble, as well as a three-way
mini-toggle that changes the clipping diodes (or removes them). The
Texture knob colors the clipping
characteristics in much the same what
a Mids knob would.
The addition of the EQ possibilities to the classic ratty sound isn’t
new, but the R.O.U.S. does it well
while still embodying the essence of
its inspiration. The clipping voices
64
range from brutal to brittle and all
points in between.
All the sounds you’d expect are here
and the price is right, the R.O.U.S. beats
a trip to the Fire Swamp any day. G
BLAKEMORE EFFECTS
R.O.U.S.
Controls: Volume, Gain, Texture, Bass,
Treble knobs, clipping toggle
Dimensions: W: 3.75” H: 2.5” D: 4.8”
Weight: 12.8 oz.
Price: $169
VERDICT: MOJO
GEAR REVIEWS u
Morgan Amplification Morgan Fuzz
Warm and fuzzy
Morgan offers up a more refined and particular fuzz
MORGAN AMPLIFICATION
MORGAN FUZZ
Controls: Gain and Tone knobs
Dimensions: W: 2.5” H: 2.2” D: 4.5”
Weight: 9.7 oz.
Price: $180
VERDICT: MOJO
knob (Gain and Tone) pedal dressed
in refined, tuxedo-inspired package.
Gain equals volume, while Tone dials
up the fuzz.
The Morgan Fuzz starts out a bit
slow as you turn the Tone knob right,
but once you get around 10 o’clock
the warm crackle of a smooth fuzz
starts to take shape. By noon, the
pedal is full and articulate. From this
point to full on adds a wider character to the fuzz tones, but never gets
raunchy or out of control.
Eschewing the stoner set, the Morgan Fuzz is best suited for adding a
little bloom and bite to your lead lines,
and not wall of sound construction.
At $180, the price might seem a little
on the high side for a two-knob, one
trick pony... but if the horse gets you
where you want to go, giddy-up! G
PHOTOS: JOSH SEATON
FUZZ can be a lot of things to a lot of
different people. It can be the overthe-top wall of squelch and unforgiving feedback or it can be tasteful,
smooth and, dare we say, dignified.
As would likely be no surprise, Joe
Morgan, the gentleman behind Morgan Amplification, has made a fuzz
that falls into that latter category.
The Morgan Fuzz is a simple, two-
65
ALBUM REVIEWS u
ARTIST:Joe Bonamassa
ALBUM: Different Shades of Blue
LABEL: J&R Adventures
VERDICT:
ARTIST: Mr. Big
ALBUM: ...The Stories We Could Tell
LABEL: Frontier Records
VERDICT: Mojo
Back to the blues for renaissance axe slinger with rock,
funk influences in tow
SAY WHAT you will about Joe
Bonamassa, the man keeps busy. He
has complemented a bustling career
as a solo blues artist with stints in
rock quartet Black Country Communion, funk outfit Rock Candy Funk
Party, and duet service with gal pal
Beth Hart among other things.
It has been over two years since
his last blues solo record Driving
Towards The Daylight, but Bonamassa is back and set to release Different Shades Of Blue. Once again
teamed with producer Kevin Shirley,
Bonamassa jumped between Las Vegas and Shirley’s The Cave in Malibu
to record the 11 track record that
glides in and out of thumping rock
and gritty blues territory effortlessly.
The album kicks off with Hendrix...
a quick tip of the hat to the master
and his ‘Hey Baby (New Rising Sun)’
intro from 1970. The Hendrix offering also stands to mark a rekindling
of sorts for Bonamassa and his relationship with the Stratocaster - three
of which are used on the new record.
The brief instrumental segues
into ‘Oh Beautiful’, a reminder of
Bonamassa’s time with Black Country Communion and showcases his
ability to build an anthemic blues vocal around a blistering rock riff.
Horns and a bit of funk seep into
66
‘Love Ain’t A Love Song’ and continue their presence into ‘Living On The
Moon’ - a more classic Bonamassa
blues stomp.
‘Heartache Follows Wherever I Go’
opens with a growling Les Paul and
slides into the power chord opening of
‘Never Give All Your Heart’, another
Bonamassa gem, and co-written by
Journey keys master Jonathan Cain.
The album’s centerpiece is the title
track. ‘Different Shades Of Blue’
opens with an ascending acoustic riff
vaguely reminiscent of the Eagles
classic ‘Hotel California’ that carries
the song through its tale of heartache
and regret.
The album closes with a trio of
tunes that fit nicely in the guitarist’s
wheelhouse - ‘Get Back My Tomorrow’ is a mid-tempo stomp wrapped
around a twangy hook, ‘Trouble
Town’ is a juke joint boogie flavored
with horns and piano, and ‘So, What
Would I Do’ brings the piano out
front and gives the Ray Charles onetwo punch to a story of indecision
and loss.
Different Shades Of Blue is
just what you would expect from
Bonamassa in 2014 - technically
clean, tonefully stout, toe-tapping
blues rock with a taste of his recent
exploits in hard rock and funk. G
IT IS refreshing that after over
25 years and eight albums together a band like Mr. Big can
still sound fresh, hungry and
unwavering to its rock-and-roll
mission statement, especially
in the face of a current music
scene that treats most guitarfueled bands with unapologetic
disdain. But, here we are... and
here they are.
The new album ...The
Stories We Could Tell is a
crunchy affair complete with
machine gun riffage and melodic hooks interwoven with
lead lines from both guitarist Paul Gilbert and bassist
Billy Sheehan. Eric Martin’s
vocals continue to be strong
and rangey and is the perfect
complement to Gilbert and
Sheehan’s fretboard dexterity on songs like the opener
‘Gotta Love The Ride’ and
‘The Monster In Me’.
Other standouts include
‘Cinderella Smile’ and the title
track, which closes the record.
...The Stories We Could Tell
is a quality rock record in a
world running dangerously
low on quality rock records.
Good on you, Mr. Big... Good
on you. G
ALBUM REVIEWS u
ARTIST: Pinnacles
ALBUM: Automaton
LABEL: Self-released
VERDICT:
AUTOMATON, the impressive
digital-only debut from Pinnacles,
has a lot to unpackage. It opens
with an ambient synth building to a
sustained hum that fractures into the
mathy main riff of ‘Nocturne’.
The record climbs to the silky peak
of ‘Aleadrome’, undulates through
the rocky pathways of ‘Johnstone’
and ‘Gunstone’, and comes to rest
overlooking the vast and starry can-
RE-LIC’’D
ARTIST: Sugartooth
ALBUM: The Sound of Solid
RELEASED: 1997
VERDICT:
vas of ‘Better Than the Enemy’.
There is plenty to absorb on the
journey, and the subtle layers are as
widely varied as the track titles are
inscrutable.
Pinnacles hails from Nevada City,
California, a micro-mecca of unusual
artistic talent nestled in the foothills
of the Sierra Nevadas.
On one track, ‘SNES’, the band
tips its hat to the area’s Nintendo-
COMING OFF the modest success of their Geffen
debut album and its lead single ‘Sold My Fortune’,
Southern California grunge trio Sugartooth tapped
the Dust Brothers - masterminds behind such classics as Beastie Boys’ Paul’s Boutique, Beck’s Odelay
and more - to record a follow-up.
In 1996, minus original drummer Joey Castillo
(Danzig, Queens of the Stone Age) and guitarist
Timothy Michael Gruse, the band -- now a trio with
Marc Hutner on guitar/vocal duties, Josh Blum on
bass and drummer Dusty Watson (Rhino Bucket)
-- emerged from the studio with The Sounds Of Solid
-- a 12-track, 35-minute buzz saw that cast off the
band’s more dark, Sabbath-esque riffage in favor
of a brighter, biting crunch. The drums have more
of an industrial snap and guitars are less brooding,
but the band’s style from the debut is still very
much in tact as is apparent on songs like ‘Toothless’ and ‘Come On In’. The Dust Brothers add their
sprinkle of noises and looped artifacts to the mix,
but these blend fairly seamlessly with the overall
raw and taut production of the record.
Fans knew they were in for something a bit different from the self-titled debut from the first notes of
the lead track. ‘Club Foot’ opens with a quote from
core roots; no surprise that guitarist/
vocalist/producer Justin Hunt’s previous credits include collaboration
with Spencer Seim of The Advantage
on the sBach project.
Elsewhere, the sounds of early
Smashing Pumpkins and Sunny
Day Real Estate, to name a couple,
find their way into the mix. But
Hunt’s steady-handed engineering
smooths the seams between the
record’s influences, and grounds it
in a taut originality.
At a quick 39 minutes, Automaton
pushes along confidently, offsetting bursts of noise with glitchy
serenades in what feels like a single
swoop, reminding you both of something familiar and something you’ve
been waiting to hear. G
- Luke Johnson
the cult flick Dolemite over top of LP record static.
The guitar kicks in with a plinking, decided funky
riff before the chorus brings in a bit of the fury
from the first album. ‘Booty Street’ spawns a lo-fi
funk groove and the showcase for the Dust Brothers
influence. The track, which was the single from the
album, is concise, crunchy and danceable. ‘Spiral’
spins will buzzing guitar work and a subdued,
synthy bass line, while ‘All Of Me’ shows shades of
the band’s early form, albeit with the overall feel of
the new direction.
A pair of instrumentals, ‘Harajauna’ and ‘Seven &
Seven’ cover varied ground... from rumbling thump
to moody slink.
The decidedly different sophomore effort was not
very well received by the fan base the band built
through tours with era heavyweights like Soundgarden and Stone Temple Pilots. The band ultimately
called it quits not long after the album was released
as the label mergers that claimed a lot of good artists in the mid-to-late 1990s made the environment
for still relatively new groups tenuous at best.
The Sound Of Solid has been called an album before
its time... and while cliched, it’s appropriate. It holds up
extremely well for a record pushing 20 years old. G
67
69
Gearphoria Magazine is wholly owned by WrightSide Media Group, Houston, TX. All rights reserved. Published September 2014.

Publication - Gearphoria

Transcription

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