You may remember James Brown as the mastermind at Peavey Electronics and Kustom Amplification. In addition to being the brains behind Peavey’s 5150, Classic Series, and JSX, Brown is an award-winning pedal designer. Today, he practices his artistry at Amptweaker.
One of Brown’s Amptweaker designs is the TightDrive Jr, a multipurpose overdrive that takes up minimal real estate on the pedalboard. It uses a multistage single-ended design similar to a tube preamp, and powering it with 9 or 18 volts produces dramatic differences in tone, similar to switching from a 50- to a 100-watt amp, and allows you to dial in more open and dynamic sounds at 18 volts.
The TightDrive Jr’s controls are easy to suss. There are knobs for Volume, Tone, and Gain, and two slide switches; one selects Plexi or Smooth EQ tones, while the other yields Fat (aggressive chunk) or Tight (thicker, singing distortion). The pedal is true-bypass, has a Noise Gate, and fits in the palm of your hand – perfect for traveling guitarists who need to rescue themselves from the horrors of backline amplifiers.
Volunteering a Telecaster through a Deluxe Reverb offered all manner of clean boost, beef, and malleable aggro was had. The TightDrive Jr has a smooth, warm personality. And because it’s an overdrive, not a high-gain distortion, there’s nothing harsh about it. The Plexi setting has the most grind, while the EQ switch’s Middle and Smooth positions gradually take the edge off. The Tight switch spreads copious crunch in the Fat position, while Middle and Tight shape and finesse gain settings for warm shred or articulate single-note blues rock. Chords ring like crazy but the Noise Gate will chop off as much of that as you want. Nice touch.
The TightDrive Jr is a great low-maintenance overdrive in a small package. It’s a sweet deal.
This article originally appeared in VG November 2016 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.
Taking inspiration from Fender’s classic AB763 Deluxe Reverb, the hand-wired Andrews Spectraverb 16 uses a pair of JJ 6V6 power tubes (producing 16 watts), a GZ34 rectifier, two 12AX7 and two 12AT7 preamp tubes, a beefed-up output transformer with 4-, 8-, and 16-ohm outputs, glass-epoxy turret boards, and a tube-driven spring reverb with limiter circuit – all coupled to a Guitar Warehouse G12C/S 12″ ceramic-magnet speaker.
Aesthetically, the Spectraverb 16 has a Princeton vibe, with its mid-sized Tolex-covered pine cab, birch-ply baffle, leather-stitched handle, oxblood/old grillecloth and A/DA Flanger-style knobs on a black panel.
Run with a late-model Strat and late-model ES-335, the amp delivered an abundance of classic blackface tone, with chiming highs, smooth/slightly pulled-back mids, and a tight, rounded low-end. The tone controls are well-voiced and interact nicely with one another. It didn’t take much fiddling to dial in a very usable sound, and the Pull Bright control did a great job of adding sizzle to the 335’s humbuckers.
Ask the Spectraverb for more volume, and harmonics and overtones increasingly enter the mix, along with a light, bluesy overdrive. For more-serious crunch, an Ibanez TS9 meshed very well, producing a rich, saturated overdrive. The spring reverb also recalled a classic blackface tone – clean and wet with a slightly darker dwell that didn’t wash out the amp’s tone even when it was dialed in heavy.
The Spectraverb’s Reverb Limiter did just what Andrews claims it does, making the reverb much more pedal-friendly and allowing the player to drive the front end (and the reverb circuit) harder with an overdrive or boost pedal while not washing out or drenching the tone in reverb. We achieved a wet, lush, and clean sound with the Tube Screamer off and a wet (but not drenched) crunch tone with it on. The Limiter circuit did not squash the amp’s tone, but affected only the signal going to the reverb circuit.
Stylish and functional, the Andrews Spectraverb 16 is not just another blackface clone – it’s an updated, upgraded circuit with its own vibe and a more-refined sound that still offers that familiar 1960s “California” tone.
This article originally appeared in VG November 2016 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.
Leo Fender once famously said, “A guitar is just a hammer.” If you haven’t yet found a hammer that fits like it should, this may be it.
After U2 guitarist The Edge signed on to Fender’s board of directors in 2014, everyone expected a signature guitar was forthcoming – and that it would likely be based on his fave, a black ’73 Stratocaster.
The Edge was inspired after watching Irish blueser Rory Gallagher wailing away on his paint-scoured Strat. And while The Edge has played many guitars from other brands, he keeps returning to that source.
When he began designing this guitar, his goal was to improve on his ’73. Fender built nine prototypes for The Edge to play on tour, discarding certain alterations, approving others. The resulting guitar is a rather like a “greatest hits” collection.
The key word here is “refinement.” There’s nothing revolutionary (well, one thing, which we’ll get to). Instead, this is a beautifully refined Stratocaster that will make you want to play it. The neck is one-piece quartersawn maple with a C-shaped 9.5″ radius, medium jumbo frets, and that CBS headstock crowned by short-post locking tuners. The neck joins the body with a rounded heel, providing easy access to the uppermost frets. It’s simply a lovely neck.
The body is alder, and the bridge is fitted with a modern two-point synchronized vibrato with pop-in arm. The pickguard is suitably minty.
That aforementioned revolutionary feature is in the pickups. The middle and neck units are Fender Custom Shop Fat ’50s single-coils, while the bridge has a DiMarzio FS-1. Unlike all other Strats, which have staggered pole pieces, the pickups made for The Edge model have flat poles. The result? A wonderful balance of string definition and a wide array of tone.
The Edge Strat is available in any color – so long as it’s black – and includes a cool custom case.
The Edge was a latecomer to the charms of Fender tweed amps, but when he first played a ’57 Deluxe, it inspired him, and the song “Vertigo” practically wrote itself.
The Edge Deluxe is a modern, hand-wired re-creation of that 5E3 circuit, with 6V6, 12AX7, and 5Y3 tubes. The main changes are modified phase-inverter circuitry for tighter bass response and a 15-watt 12″ Celestion Blue speaker that boasts an enhanced tonal range and sweeter midrange than the Jensen blue-cap of yore.
Plugged in together, they’re a tremendous combo. Yes, you can find modern tones, but it’ll also dig into rockabilly, classic rock, psychedelia – you name it.
The Edge Deluxe may be Fender’s best tweed reissue. Warm and defined, it’s also loud and raucous when needed.
Whether or not you’re a U2 fan, you gotta hand it to The Edge, and Fender. This is a classic combo, right off the shelves.
This article originally appeared in VG November 2016 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.
1965 Gibson Thunderbird bass, serial #263668. Photo: Steve Evans. Instrument courtesy of Steve Evans.
In spite of its laudable history, the Gibson company’s solidbody electric basses have never been much of a factor in the market. Sure, it built a couple of electric uprights in the late 1930s and the semi-hollow EB-2 in ’58, but all too often its solidbody basses played catch-up with Fender instruments.
Fender introduced its full-scale (34″) solidbody Precision Bass in 1951, and it quickly caught on. Gibson’s response came in 1953 with the Electric Bass (its actual moniker), which was a short-scale (301?2″) mahogany-bodied, violin-shaped instrument with a telescopic end pin that allowed it to be played upright. Only 546 were shipped before the instrument was discontinued in 1958, supplanted by the EB-2.
The next solidbody Gibson bass was the ’59 EB-0, which would go through several cosmetic and electronic changes as it and a two-pickup EB-3 became Gibson’s mainstay electric basses in the ’60s. The two were normally short-scale, but were available in full-scale variants for a few years starting in ’69.
Gibson opted to get into the full-scale electric bass market in earnest with the introduction of the redoubtable Thunderbird model in 1963. Companions to the Firebird guitars, Thunderbirds featured neck-through construction with body sides glued to the neck block. Early examples had a two-piece full-length neck, but by the end of the first year, a nine-layer laminated neck was employed for better strength.
Five years before the Thunderbird, Gibson had committed a cosmetic blunder with the too-futuristic Flying V and Explorer guitars (at least one Explorer bass was built). So for the T-Bird, it softened the profile of the Explorer to create what resembled flipped-over Fenders, with a protruding treble bout and no cutaway on the bass side near where the neck joined the body.
There were cosmetic and electronic differences in the Firebird I, III, V, and VII guitars (neck inlay, tailpieces, number of pickups, etc.), but the Thunderbird II and IV were simply one- and two-pickup models with dot fretboard inlays. They featured new humbucking pickups without polepieces, and their Tune-O-Matic bridges and stop tailpieces were also new. The single-pickup II had a volume and tone control, and the double-pickup IV had two volume controls and a master tone knob. Original Firebirds had rear-projecting banjo-style tuners; Thunderbirds had conventional bass tuners, located exactly where they would be on a Fender instrument.
The standard finish on early T-Birds was sunburst, but one of the most important marketing innovations for this series was the introduction of Gibson’s custom-color program (they trailed Fender in this concept, as well). Ten colors were available, including the gorgeous Cardinal Red that drapes this 1965 example. Other colors on the chart were Heather Poly, Pelham Blue Poly, Golden Mist Poly, Kerry Green, Silver Mist Poly, Inverness Green Poly, Ember Red, Frost Blue, and Polaris White. Some black instruments were also manufactured, but were never catalogued as a color option.
Notable players of original Thunderbirds included Martin Turner of Wishbone Ash, and the late Allen Woody of the Allman Brothers Band and Gov’t Mule.
Thunderbirds produce a more resonant sound than short-scale Gibson basses of the era, but they weren’t without shortcomings. The term “neck-heavy” was/is often applied, and they’ve garnered more than their share of broken headstocks. Pre-order before 9 a.m. February 4, shirts mail week of February 14!! Available for a limited time, VG’s Fab Fours shirt recalls the pop-art movement while honoring four classic basses.
In late 1965, Gibson changed the construction and cosmetic style of Firebird and Thunderbird models. The new versions had glued-in necks and a silhouette changed to look like they’d been flipped over yet again; i.e., they now looked more like Fenders. In the vintage guitar lexicon, original neck-through models (and their reissues) have become known as “reverse” models, while the glued-neck examples are called “non-reverse” models.
This Cardinal Red Thunderbird IV has more than one rarity factor going for it. There’s the custom color facet, of course, but Gibson records indicate that only 87 Thunderbird IVs were shipped in 1965, and that included instruments in the new glued-neck “non-reverse” configuration that were shipped in the latter half of the year.
In spite of all of the innovations found on Gibson’s original Thunderbird bass series, Fender basses continued to clobber the Kalamazoo company’s models in terms of sales. And that hasn’t changed in a half-century. Still, this Thunderbird IV confirms that Gibson in the early 1960s was at least trying to come up with viable alternatives to Fender’s venerable Precision and Jazz.
This article originally appeared in VG’s November 2004 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.
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Inspiration can come from a lot of places. For jazz guitarist John Hart, a visit to a familiar place provided the impetus for his latest record, Exit From Brooklyn.
After spending a quarter century in New York City, in 2014, Hart moved to begin teaching at the University of Miami.
“I’m back and forth. I went to New York last summer to play one gig and ended up working for a month! While we were there, we did the record. I sent it to Zoho Music, and they liked it.”
Hart’s trio includes Bill Moring (bass) and Tom Horner (drums), and the album contains two Hart originals along with seven covers of tunes by luminaries like Thelonius Monk, Rodgers and Hart, Ellington and Strayhorn, and others. There are twists and turns, like their take on the ballad “Here’s That Rainy Day.”
“I was riding my bike, thinking about tunes, when it came to me; ‘We should do that in 6/8 time.’ Then I re-harmonized certain parts, but kept it familiar enough to be recognizable. I like it. It’s interesting, I think.”
Hart admits that, as he gets older, he doesn’t write as many songs.
“When I was younger, I wrote simply because that’s what young New York musicians do,” he said. “I guess I’m like all writers and composers; some tunes come quite quickly, and others, you labor over. Still others never get realized.” (laughs)
Hart’s journey started in Sarasota, Florida, when he got a six-string on his 12th birthday. He immediately took to it.
“I had a really good guitar teacher and great band director in high school,” he said. His interest in jazz started late in high school and continued at the U of Miami. He spent five years there, then moved to New York, where his tastes – and style – continued to evolve.
“I was really into southern rock, along with the Allman Brothers and Jeff Beck. It was a natural progression because there’s a huge improvisational element to those styles.”
Plenty of jazz stalwarts also caught his attention – including influences that correlated to guitar like Miles Davis, John Coltrane, and Wes Montgomery. But…
“I did spend a lot of years where I didn’t listen to a lot of guitar,” he admitted. “I wanted to play like (pianist) McCoy Tyner or Coltrane and I kept asking myself why I picked guitar. After I started playing professionally, it didn’t take long to realize that it didn’t matter what instrument you were playing. At some point I embraced the fact that I was a guitarist, and now all I do is think about guitar. It’s the first thing I want to do when I get up in the morning.”
His main guitar has been with him since high school. “It’s a ’76 Gibson ES-175. The finish is worn off – I’ve played it to death. I don’t travel with it anymore, but it’s the guitar I used on the new record.” On the road, he uses a blond ES-335 reissue from the early ’80s.
Lou Rosano, at Louis Electric Amplifiers, supplies his current amp of choice.
“It’s a really nice amp – it’s a copy of a ’59 tweed Deluxe. I also found a ’64 Fender Deluxe that I really like, but the Louis has a little more headroom. I have a lot of other amps – a Polytone, a Henriksen that is the lightest amp I’ve ever had and was used for gigs in New York – but the Louis and the Deluxe are the main ones. I’ve also got a Seymour Duncan I’ve tried to get rid of for years just because super heavy… But then I realized it’s a great-sounding amp!”
This article originally appeared in VG November 2016 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.
“Many years ago, I was in the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ dressing room with my son, Daxx,” recalls Rick Nielsen. “Flea says to him, ‘Your dad was weird before it was cool to be weird.’ Coming from Flea, especially, that’s kind of a left-handed compliment!”
Looking back now, Nielsen pauses, then laughs. “I’m recognized, but I’m not a rock star. I act goofy, maybe, but not starry.”
Nielsen has always stood out, in the band’s early days thanks to a uniquely cultivated look that included a flipped-up baseball cap, bowtie, sweaters, and suspenders. Then, of course, there were one-off instruments like his five-necked Hamer.
“When I started, every musician wanted to look like Keith Richards, Jimmy Page, or Jeff Beck, but that was last thing in the world I wanted to be. So, I came up with my own look.”
The image sometimes overshadowed Nielsen’s musicianship and songwriting, which earlier this year helped propel Cheap Trick into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. His stellar guitar work has been featured on recordings by John Lennon, Alice Cooper, Glen Campbell, Foo Fighters, Hall and Oates, and Mötley Crüe.
Following a legal battle with former drummer Bun E. Carlos, Nielson and fellow co-founders Robin Zander and Tom Petersson, along with Daxx on drums, are riding a resurgence with its latest album, Bang, Zoom, Crazy… Hello, and touring with fellow Hall of Famers Heart and Joan Jett.
Zoom has garnered great reviews. Did you consciously try to re-create the sound of your late-’70s albums?
Not really. There’s really no conscious effort of trying to alter anything we do. We’ve been together for so long, it’s all like riding a bike. We’re always enthusiastic about recording, and this time we had about 30 different songs to choose from.
How much of the album was recorded live?
Almost all. Probably the most we’ll do is maybe three takes because, by the time we record a song, we know what will sound good. We’ve been making Cheap Trick records for a long time, and we’re pretty good at it.
What were your main guitars?
Nothing I haven’t used before – a ’50s Esquire and a ’60s Telecaster. I borrowed a Gretsch Monkees from our producer, Julian Raymond.
Did you use any pedals?
Not really. I make the guitar work for me as opposed to fiddling with things. My distortion comes from the guitar itself, how I play it, years of technique and experimentation, and from the amp. I still use a Fender Deluxe that’s been modified for me.
You’ve been married for 46 years and with Cheap Trick more than 40. Which has been a bigger challenge?
Well, the marriage has been easier, because my wife is more understanding than the band. When we got married, it was understood that she wanted to have kids and I wanted to be on the road, playing music. I was very ambitious, and if that meant sometimes sleeping on the floor of my mother-in-law’s house, I did it. Was it all worth it? Hell yeah!
This article originally appeared in VG November 2016 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.
When profiled by Vintage Guitar in 1992, Trey Gunn was playing a Chapman Stick alongside guitarist Robert Fripp in a band called Sunday All Over the World.
Gunn’s two-handed tenacity soon landed him in a gig with a revitalized King Crimson that lasted until 2003, as well as numerous collaborations and solo projects. While remaining a “stick player,” the years since have seen him change brands and models; presently, he’s employing a signature model Warr, which differs from the Chapman in that it has a substantial wooden body.
“The Stick is a very streamlined version, while the Warr is kind of like a Maserati version of the idea,” he explained. Highly personalized, his signature Warr, “…has all regular things of a Warr Guitar, but with more mass in the body and souped-up preamps. The other change is that we put a sharper angle in the headstock and added a string tree behind the nut. Both had an enormous change to the low-end frequency spectrum across the whole instrument and give it a richer, warmer tone I prefer for tapped instruments.”
Gunn also detailed the tunings on his touch guitar.
“I tune in fifths, and there are five strings on each side of the instrument,” he said. “The bass side begins on a low C below electric bass and the top side begins on a low C below the regular guitar tuning. One little twist is that the top side also has a minor third between the two highest strings.”
One recent and unique group effort for Gunn has been The Security Project, which does interpretations of Peter Gabriel material. The band recently released Live 1.
“(Original Gabriel drummer) Jerry Marotta and I were approached by a mutual friend with the idea,” he recalled. “Initially we weren’t sure about it, but once we got together and played, it became obvious that this was something truly unique – a chance to dig deep into this very special music that rarely gets performed. This also gave us a chance to breathe our own life into it.”
Other musicians in The Security Project include guitarist Michael Cozzi, keyboard player David Jameson, and vocalist Brian Cummins.
Most of the selections on Live 1 are taken from Gabriel’s eponymous third album and his fourth album, unofficially named Security (from which the band takes its name).
“The Security record, while not as huge as the So record (Gabriel’s fifth solo album), was a defining recording, both for Peter and for all musicians at the time,” Gunn explained. “The song selection comes from the live show, of which this CD is only half. The other half will come out on Live 2+, in October. But the material comes from us wanting to take on Gabriel’s older and heavier material that he doesn’t play anymore.”
Live 1 isn’t a standard “tribute” album, and features unique, very listenable arrangements.
“‘Here Comes The Flood’ is a fairly different approach from the original, and from the number of live versions Peter made,” said Gunn. “He has always approached it from a piano perspective; I thought we should try a different angle and base it off of my touch guitar.”
The disc offers impressive fidelity.
“The mastering engineer, Chris Athens, said it was the best-sounding live recording he has ever worked on,” Gunn recounted. “I agree. The thing sounds fantastic because of all the pre-production and rehearsal work we’d done going into the performances.”
Asked which songs made it sonically obvious that he was utilizing a touch guitar, Gunn laughed. “That’s very hard to answer – to me, it’s all obviously touch guitar. But I guess I would say the introduction and first verses and chorus of ‘Here Comes The Flood,’ the intro and groove of ‘I Don’t Remember,’ and the solos in ‘(The) Family and The Fishing Net’ but the sound I use there is so incredibly unusual – a tritone on a pitch shifter – that probably no one knows what the heck the instrument is.”
While Live 1 was recorded in Europe, where such music is held in higher regard, Gunn noted that the band has been touring in the U.S., as well.
“We just finished our first West Coast tour,” he said. “In October, we will be in the Midwest and Northeast.”
The touch guitarist is also planning on continued work with other musicians and noted, “I will also start up a new solo recording this year sometime.”
This article originally appeared in VG November 2016 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.
Wayne Kramer has earned his stripes as an American music icon. Whether abusing his signature Strat, scoring a film, or using music to help turn around troubled lives, Kramer is as relevant as ever. For his latest offering, the legend took up progressive jazz.
“I did the score for a documentary on The Narcotic Farm, in Lexington, Kentucky, which was a place where addicts could check themselves into, and many of the jazz musicians of the late 1930s/’40s would go there for the ‘cure.’ I thought it should be a jazz score because of the great names in jazz having been treated at the facility.”
The project served as the catalyst for his 2014 record, Lexington.
“We ended up with what I thought, with a little reimagining, would make a pretty good record. And it went to number six on the jazz charts. To have a top 10 record at this stage in my career came as a shock (laughs)!”
To record the disc, Kramer called upon his usual suspects.
“I used the Wayne Kramer Stratocaster and a Fender Hot Rod Deville; that was it. I didn’t use any effects. The Strat has such a classic tone that’s very reliable, and the Hot Rod Devilles are just terrific-sounding, so I didn’t have to think about the gear too much; I was more concerned with what I was trying to play.”
Alongside fellow musician Billy Bragg, he also guides the Jail Guitar Doors organization, which Bragg founded in 2007 to provide musical equipment to help rehabilitate prison inmates in the U.K. In ’09, Kramer signed on to lead the effort in the U.S.
“We find people in corrections who are willing to use music as a tool for rehabilitation, and provide them with new Fender acoustic guitars.”
Those guitars aren’t simple gifts.
“They represent a challenge,” Kramer said. “When the inmates accept a guitar, they accept that it’s a tool to be used to find a new way to process their problems. If I can get a guitar in a boy’s hands, and all he needs to do is change direction slightly, then I won’t have to give him a guitar later in San Quentin.”
His work with the incarcerated has given Kramer a new affinity for playing acoustic.
“I’m very excited about the world of acoustic guitar. I’ve been a rock player most of my life and only really started playing solo acoustic gigs about 15 years ago. Once I got into it, I discovered that it’s a whole universe and there’s a community of musicians out there that go onstage with nothing but an acoustic. It presents a whole new set of challenges. Coming from rock bands, I tend to hit the guitar as hard as humanly possible, and of course that’s not the deal with acoustic. You have to work within the dynamic range of the instrument.”
An offshoot of his work with inmates led Kramer to develop a signature Fender acoustic – the Royal Tone.
“The signature Strat had done well, I thought it was a good move to do an acoustic. And I was really impressed with their effort to make sure it sounds right, plays right, looks right, and is priced right.”
Apparel giant Vans enlisted Kramer’s talents for a commercial, and he was recently asked to perform at an even for Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign.
“Vans is celebrating 50 years in business and they wanted some guitar music that took the listener from the early days of surf music, up through heavy metal, punk, and to today; I was able to write something that did the job.
“Bernie Sanders’ staff asked, ‘Do you want to come out and help the Senator get some musicians and put together a show?’ So we put together the first round of support from the music and artistic communities. We generated a statement of a hundred artists that supported Sanders, and we went to Iowa and played music all across the state with the Senator.”
Fans of MC5 may be excited to hear Kramer has plans to create new music in its vein.
“I want to do another tour at some point and maybe make another record just to remind everyone that ‘This is how it’s done.’ As curator of the MC5 legacy, I enjoy playing that music and I know there are fans who would love to hear it again. If you get up there and you rock hard, people respond.”
Kramer’s uniqueness comes from his passion and conviction.
“I’m the best Wayne-Kramer-style guitar player there is!” he laughs. “To me, the guitar is a portal to the world of music; the interlock between my feelings and the outside world. I’m not a guitar fetishist; I want something that tunes up, sounds good, has good intonation… then let me figure out how to play the damn thing!”
This article originally appeared in VG November 2016 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.
Guitarist Albert Castiglia’s blues-based music has gone through a lot of changes since VG first interviewed him in 2008. In that span, he has released five more albums, including this year’s Big Dog, which was produced by guitarist Mike Zito (June ’16).
Castiglia admits that his singing and playing have taken a very noticeable turn, stylistically – louder and rougher-sounding – and that suits him just fine.
“After (2008’s) These Are The Days, I went through some personnel changes that drastically changed my sound. In the fall of 2009, I streamlined the band to a three-piece; I hired A.J. Kelly to play bass and he brought a fat, full sound that I didn’t have with my previous bassist. After I let my keyboard player go, I was going to find another, but I discovered that the power trio suited me better than a quartet. The sound was more-aggressive and rocking. I still have a three-piece, and I will probably never go back to a quartet… Well, never say never.”
Another transition for Castiglia includes instrumentation; he’s now focused on Gibson.
“I was a Strat guy – flew the Fender flag ever since I was a kid,” he said. “Then, in 2010, a friend turned me on to Les Pauls and I’ve been playing them ever since. I’m in love with their tone. They’re heavy as hell, but worth it. I also play a Delaney guitar, which is a work of art made in Austin. And I just got an SG; love it. I still have a couple of Strats I mess with from time to time.”
Castiglia is pleased with the way his playing and singing are presented on Big Dog.
“There’s always been an edge to my playing,” he reflected. “It certainly came out on Big Dog, but it wasn’t always obvious on other records. My favorite players played that way – Buddy Guy, Luther Allison, Johnny Winter. I was definitely channeling those three on this album.”
Asked what it was like having Zito, a strong guitarist in his own right, produce the album, Castiglia responded, “It was great! He did a fantastic job. He brought every guitar, amp, and pedal he owned to the session and we tried nearly all of them. He did a great job dialing in my guitar sound. Vocally, he pushed me out of my comfort zone and it really paid off. I sincerely hope we work together again.”
Perhaps not surprisingly, Zito played on the album, including trading licks with Castiglia on “Don’t Let Them Fool Ya.”
“We did it through the whole solo break and in one take,” Castiglia recalled. “That was a very special moment. It’s a great feeling when you can pull off something like that.”
The album includes one song with slide guitar, while another tune sounds like it has a slide, but doesn’t.
“I played ‘Get Your Ass In The Van’ in Open D,” Castiglia detailed. “I rarely play slide in open tuning – it’s usually standard. Open D is mean, and the song was approached in a mean, Elmore James/Johnny Winter kind of way. I didn’t play slide on ‘Where the Devil Makes His Deals’ but I did do some runs during the solo break that resembled slide.”
“Easy Distance” might best described as funk with bluesy riffs interpolated.
“I co-wrote the song with keyboard genius John Ginty,” Castiglia noted. “He sent me lyrics and I messed around with riffs and grooves for it. What I came up with was the best I could muster. Listening to it now, I was probably subconsciously channeling Albert Collins.”
Harmonica icon Johnny Sansone also contributed to two songs.
“He’s a pro,” Castiglia enthused. “He came to the studio with this little vintage amp with an 8″ speaker and blew me away. He’s one of the best out there. I expected him to rip it up on ‘Where Did I Go Wrong’ but what he did on ‘Where The Devil Makes His Deals’ was amazing. He placed the notes perfectly on that tune. It was a joy to work with him.”
Asked to assess his overall satisfaction with the way Big Dog turned out, the guitarist said, “I’m beyond satisfied. It was an incredible session and turned out exactly as I wanted. Can’t ask for more than that from an album.”
Castiglia is on the road through the end of the year.
This article originally appeared in VG November 2016 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.
Ana Popovic brings to her music an inspiring drive and work ethic. Super-appreciative of her fans, she recently released three albums’ worth of material at the same time; Trilogy features musical collaborations with Robert Randolph, Joe Bonamassa, Bernard Purdie, Cody Dickinson, and others, along with the production talents of Warren Riker, Tom Hambridge, and Delfeayo Marsalis. Trilogy was an enormous undertaking with three different bands and guest artists.
Why release so much music at once?
I had this idea for a long time. A lot of fans would come to me and say, “I like your blues stuff. I always make a compilation of all your blues songs for myself, and then I make a compilation of all your jazzy stuff for my friends.” I thought, “Why don’t I commit to one style?” and I started thinking about all the old blues records, the old jazz records, and the old funk records.
I didn’t know what the blues fans were going to think if I just released a jazz record. If I just release a jazz, funk, or rock record, they would miss the blues. So I came to the idea that I should release all of them but give people the opportunity to hear one style on one CD. Then they could swap them, share them, or give away what they don’t like. That was the original idea behind Trilogy.
Volume one is a funk and soul record that was recorded in Memphis and New Orleans with some really great players; Ivan Neville was on drums and Joe Bonamassa played guitar. The recording went so smooth and so fast and it was the way I wanted to hear it. Once I was done, I booked a second session with Delfeayo Marsalis and a whole different band in New Orleans with a jazz crew that he put together with Herlin Riley and Bernard Purdie on drums. I wanted Delfeayo to get out of me a completely different-sounding artist.
For the whole process, I didn’t touch a Strat. I took a Gibson ES-175 and recorded the jazz parts; I got back into the chops and stuff I learned a long time ago but had never played live; I studied jazz and world music in Holland a long time ago, and recording jazz was a stretch for me. I had written jazz songs in the past but I was always recording with studio musicians. I really enjoyed hearing my songs played by jazz guys.
When I had all three volumes and played them, they sounded all different like I wanted them to sound, but they had a strong connection. They really felt like they belonged to the same project. I finally made the decision that I was going to put them out at the same time and give my fans enough material so they can hear my music from the morning until the end of the day.
You did a great arrangement of Rufus’ “You’ve Got The Love.”
Obviously, Chaka Kahn has an incredible version; I didn’t want to copy her, and I always heard it as a Lenny Kravitz rock song, so I stripped it down. I wanted a lot of guitar.
Have you picked up any new gear for inspiration?
I’m using D’Angelico guitars, which are great for when I sit and play a couple of jazz tracks. I’m using some reverb and delay pedals from MXR. Dunlop has supported me and I’ve been playing their slides and wah pedals forever. I’m not huge on pedals, but I use the retro stuff – I’m really happy with the reverb, delay, and their volume pedal. My original Fender ’54 Strat is still my main guitar, and I still have my ’64 Strat and my ’57 Strat reissue. I’m also playing a Hamiltone; they made stuff for Stevie Ray Vaughan.
Your vocals get better with each album.
I try to step up everything. I want to be better at what I do. I take singing lessons when I have time off. I love jazz singers like Sarah Vaughan and Ella Fitzgerald. My favorite jazz is the old-school, bluesy parts of jazz, and I wanted to bring out that type of singing. I work really hard to push myself to my limits. Making records, to me, is about being happy. I’m not interested in sales. I want to stand behind what I do. I know when I deliver a good performance, and I’m hard on myself.
What’s next?
It’s time for a live record.
This article originally appeared in VG November 2016 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.
