NEVILLE’S ADVOCATE
Nev goes from pub gig to 24-date rock ’n’ roll tour, the common denominator being the far-from-humble telecaster
Among the bands I play with is Bristol quintet Furlined. Fronted by writerguitarist Neil Crossley, they’ve had skirmishes with success, four-star reviews in Mojo, etc. The guitarist I replaced was ex-Bush axeman Nigel Pulsford (who also writes Guitarist’s Backtracking column), so it’s a proper setup with talented players.
But being ‘on the Bristol scene’ means mainly pub gigs. There’s always a sound engineer and PA, but it’s essentially still a pub gig. I’ve tried various setups including Strat, Tele or Les Paul into a Blues Junior or Deluxe Reverb with a small pedalboard.
For our last gig, though, I was feeling reckless and decided to use my Telecaster direct into my Matchless, with no pedals. Just the thought of it made me sweat, like the panic of no sat-nav, even when you’ve been gigging for 30 years and never not found a venue yet. It’s the same scenario here: we get so dependent on the crutch of effects that there’s panic when they’re suddenly not there for support.
Anyway. I did exactly that. And you know what? If I’ve ever had a better guitar sound, I don’t recall it. It was stunning. The Tele roared and sang through those EL34s and single Celestion – always on the edge of ‘going’, it was like I could manipulate any note to do whatever I wanted.
Just a week later, I was in rehearsals for a 24-date rock ’n’ roll tour. This time it was my Helix, the opposite end of the technological spectrum but just as exciting in other ways. Again, I decided to use the Tele. It’s a lovely CS Relic (the one in the Rift Amps feature last issue), not overdone like some but looking like the naturally aged 67-year-old guitar it purports to be.
After my Bristol pub experience, I decided to reprogram the Helix to purely Matchless, ‘Matchstick Ch2’ as Line 6 labels the model I prefer. I employed the same clean tone for all the patches but with various pedals added – EP Boost, Klon and Timmy models mostly, with simple delays, a dribble of reverb and a 70s chorus for one song. This particular Matchless model
includes Michael Britt ‘impulse response’ speaker emulation and is (to these ears) indistinguishable from the real thing.
Tele Vision
Often deemed ‘thin and weedy’ by those who don’t know better, the Tele is actually much pokier than a Strat. The bridge pickup is immense on mine, but neck and middle position are awesome, too – the neck tones are almost more Strat-like than a Strat and, with both on, not unlike Albert King. Of course, on opening night I had to tweak pretty much every sound since I’d done it at home, but, on stage, volume, distortion and delay imbalances meant it had to be fettled here and there to sit properly in the mix.
One of my favourite clean tones is actually my ‘solo’ patch with the guitar’s volume back to about 5, just as I use it with my real Matchless. Previously, I’d set up a patch for every different sound, but in one fell swoop I’d gone from three amp models to one, and half as much tap dancing on footswitches.
But back to the Tele. With two simple pickups, a volume and a tone control, plus three-way selector, the sonic options are endless. Back off the volume to clean it up; turn down the tone to darken and fatten it; go clean and twangsome on the middle position; or delicate and flutey on the neck. It’s a delight to play, too, with a big old lump of a neck that sits perfectly in the hand. Also, part of me loves deploying this most basic of instruments and shocking people with its abilities. I just love its no-nonsense, belt-and-braces attitude.
Telecasters have been used in every conceivable genre by some of the world’s greatest players – including Jimmy Page whose Artist Series model appears in this month’s mag – so it’s nice to find myself back on the road with a good one. All that said, I’m using my ’57 Goldtop as a spare and may pick it up for the occasional fix of a different sound. Or perhaps the Strat. Or the 355. Maybe even the Gretsch… It never ends! See you next month.