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| • – | : GEAR | ||
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When
it comes to guitars, amplifiers, effects, pedals, cables, etc.,
all this stuff can really be a distraction from making music. The
moment of truth really comes down to one person with one instrument
at one time. Throughout my playing career, I've gone between Gibson
and Fender guitars. For amplifiers, I've always used Fenders and
Marshalls. Also, I still use a tape echo unit such as an old Echoplex.
And I always keep an electronic tuner handy.
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For
Bluetopia, the main guitar I used was a 1968 Fender Stratocaster.
There's just something about this guitar and the way it plays that
feels extremely second nature. It has a magical quality and tone.
There were a couple of other electric guitars used, but this was
the main one for nearly all the tracks. The acoustic guitar that
you hear is a late '90's Martin D35 (not shown).
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Amplifiers
make a huge difference in the way the guitar sounds. By using several
different amps, a guitarist is able to achieve many different sonic
personalities. By changing amplifiers here and there, you can dramatically
change the mood and feel of each song. Although I use many different
amplifiers, the main ones I used on Bluetopia were my roadworthy
"blackface" Fender Super Reverbs. They have an overall
'lush' and 'bigger than life' sound. I played countless gigs with
them. The Marshall tones came from a plexi Marshall Super Tremolo
100-watt amp. This amp is affectionately known as "J.R.",
as in J.R.Cobb of the Atlanta Rhythm Section, the former owner of
this amp. This is the baddest amp on the planet! You could take
out small villages with it. The HiWatt DR50 amp was on loan from
a good friend. I used this on many of the guitar tracks throughout
the album. Beautiful clean tones, as well as harmonically enriched
overdriven sounds are obtained with this amp. I tried desperately
to buy this amp, but it's not for sale. At least I got to use it
(Thanks, Jeff!). These amplifier heads were run through a typical
Marshall 4 x 12 speaker cabinet with 25-watt celestions. I used
an Echoplex on a few tracks and also a Dunlop Rotovibe sparingly.
The tremolo effect comes from the Fender Super Reverb amp. And on
"Irie", the main guitar effect was a Boss Autowah (Thanks,
Midtown Music!).
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As far as
microphones go, I used Groove Tubes for much of the recording.
They have a certain character that works well with guitar tones. Strings…
GHS – I've used them for years. They're the best! • – | :HOME |
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