longterm Test
A few months’ gigging, recording and everything that goes with it – welcome to Guitarist’s longterm test reports
Late last year, the phone rang in Guitarist’s office – it happens sometimes – to announce jazz guitarist Denny Ilett on the other end of the line. Besides being a regular contributor to Guitarist, Denny is also the artistic director of the brilliant Bristol International Jazz & Blues Festival, now in its fifth year.
“All right, mate,” he said.“Would you, Nev and Mick be up for performing Are You Experienced at this year’s festival? It’s the 50th anniversary.”
Would we? Heck, yes – where do we sign? However, after the initial rush of blood to the head died down, there followed a period of solemn reflection on how great Jimi was – and the hill we’d have to climb to do his brilliant debut album anything like justice. Fortunately, Denny assured us we’d have two great Bristol musicians as our rhythm section: Eric MylodOkafo on bass and vocals and Matt Brown (previously drummer with Marc Ford) behind the kit. Good news – at least we’d be in time…
A few days later we got together at Nev’s, uncorked some wine and talked through the setlist, dishing out parts as required. Mick takes on Fire and Foxy Lady. Nev tackles Hey Joe and Red House. I plump for some of the more out-there stuff, including Manic Depression and Third Stone From The Sun. The album has overdubs on many of the tracks – sometimes just feedback howls, sometimes signature fills and licks. We divvy up solos and rhythm parts according to whoever suits them most and what would work best. In some cases, as with Fire, only one player is called for. But most of the time a couple of guitars are in play: one taking the lead and the other supporting in some way. b We also decided to do everything in E to avoid retuning every five minutes on stage and for extra ‘heavyosity’, too, to use the correct technical term.
We were obviously going to have to equip ourselves with the right kit as well. It’s not like we actually want to make room in the house for Plexis and 60s Strats and Flying Vs and desirable effects pedals that we don’t currently own, of course. But we quickly accept that we must simply grit our teeth and make that difficult sacrifice in the name of art. I get off to a flying start – the good people at Vintage ‘n’ Rare Guitars of Bath ask if I would like to borrow the shop’s resident 100-watt JMP head and 412 cab? It sounds brutally beautiful and it’s a master volume model, too, so taming its raw power is doable on the modern stage. Nigel Pulsford, proprietor of that fine establishment – and former guitarist with Bush – goes one better and very kindly lends me his all-original ’65 Strat. Amid profuse thanks, I promise not to set fire to it!
The Wind Cries Dunlop
So that leaves effects – yes, there is a Longterm Test buried amid all this rambling. The G2 is the ideal platform for conjuring up the ‘sound world’ of a famous album through effects. As it’s Jimi in ’67 that we’re aiming to sound like, fuzz forms the most essential component. After auditioning a few things I already have, including the excellent Broadcast germanium preamp by Hudson Electronics, I’m left feeling that there’s really
only one way to go… One trip to PMT in Bristol later, I Velcro down a familiar, smiling blue disc and instantly feel – and sound – the part. I set the Fuzz Face up on G2 so it’s first in the signal chain, as any buffering in front of it will make it sound colder and harsher than it should.
As I experiment with settings, I’m reminded how dynamic the Fuzz Face is. Roll off the volume even just a little and it cleans up completely – touch the volume again and blistering fuzz comes hosing through like that rogue tap everyone’s been sprayed by in a restaurant bathroom. I’m also going to use the new Free The Tone Ambi-Space reverb to help with the spring reverb on The Wind Cries Mary and the more spacey ambiences of Third Stone and Are You Experienced. This will turn out to be one of my slight tonal regrets of the gig. The venerable Marshall doesn’t have an effects loop, so the ’verb has to go into the front of the amp and consequently has preamp gain applied to it on the way through – and ends up sounding a little clanky and coarse in places. Finally, an octave-up effect is needed. The Moollon Octavia that Innes Sibun let me borrow is, due to mods, batteries only – so for safety’s sake I buy a simple Joyo mainspowered model for £30 that produces the alien scream that Purple Haze’s solo requires.
Meanwhile, Nev and Mick have also been busy. Nev equipped himself with a JTM45 reissue (30-watt version) and handwired 2x12 cab. His pedalboard on the night consisted of an OXfuzz pedal formerly owned by Philip Sayce, an Analog Man King Of Tone for straight overdrive and a Keeley modded Boss DD-3 delay for echo. Into this he plugged a ’60-spec Custom Shop Strat and, for Red House, a ’67 style Gibson Flying V retrofitted with custom ’buckers and a Maestro Vibrola.
Mick Taylor – as you’d expect from one half of That Pedal Show – trialled many effects. “I really went round the houses with it,” Mick explains. “Everything was set up on my ’board with a G2, but the signal flow was initially like this: Analog Man Sun Face BC183; Fulltone Octafuzz; Keeley D&M Drive; Kingsley Constable Preamp (a full-on Marshall Plexi valve preamp in a pedal); Empress Tape Delay; TC Electronic HOF Reverb. All feeding the effects return of the Marshall 1987X head.
“However, after several rehearsals and revisions, I ended up with: Analog Man Sun Face BC183; Fulltone Octafuzz; Keeley D&M Drive; Kingsley Maiden; Strymon El Capistan delay; TC Electronic HOF Reverb – into the front of the amp with the two channels jumped at the input. The best sound was the former setup, but I was still learning how to balance all the gain levels and I just didn’t feel as comfortable as I would going straight into the front of the amp.
“Of course, the best sound of all would probably be the Fuzz Face straight into the Marshall, but there’s no way we could crank the amps enough for that, so the D&M Drive and Maiden were there to just increase the juice after the fuzz, but before hitting the amp. Fuzz Face-type fuzz always sounds better to me when it’s hitting something slightly drive-y – either an amp (like Jimi did) or another pedal. I was on the volume pot all night. FuzzMaiden-Marshall is one of the best clean sounds ever with the guitar volume down.”
Ain’t No Telling
So how did it all go on the night? Well, pretty good, actually. There were a few butterflies as we had somehow managed to attract a full house at Colston Hall’s Lantern hall – had no-one warned them? But once Nev riffed out the first iconic notes of Hey Joe we steadily hit our stride, really enjoying letting the Marshalls off the lead. There was the odd fluff-up, but by and large, it was a real privilege to pay tribute to Jimi on a special anniversary in company of some like-minded fans of Mr Hendrix. No-one threw rocks at us and the audience even generously cheered us back on for an encore. One take-home thought: once we got up there all that mattered is that we delivered the songs with as much heart, feel and ‘Jimi Spirit’ as we could muster. The G2 made it very easy to switch between sounds, but it’s amazing how much the tech (as long as it’s working well) sinks into the periphery of your cares when you’re in full flow. And that’s exactly as it should be.
If anyone fancies coming to see us play the set again, we’ll be performing at Hull’s Doc’n Roll festival on 13 May. Come and say hi and celebrate Jimi with us if you can – we’ll be happy to raise a glass to him after.
“The best sound of all would be the Fuzz Face straight into the Marshall…”