What's Inside This Issue:
Allen Collins 1977 Les Paul Special Limited Edition – Pickups, Harnesses And The Peavey Mace 320T – Rossington-Collins Years And Routing Explorers – Bringing Allen’s Dead Guitars Back To Life
Allen Collins—for many the name is held in high regard. A founding member, songwriter, and guitar player with Lynyrd Skynyrd, one of the biggest rock bands of the ’70s. That tall, thin, big-head-of-hair player who wielded one of his mighty Firebirds to play that song live that he co-wrote with Ronnie Van Zant who asked, “What song is it you wanna hear?” We often defer to the Allman Brothers as owning the Southern Rock genre, albeit that moniker is not entirely accurate, as they brought the blues and jazz elements to their music, steeped in improvisation. Skynyrd on the other hand typically played the songs in similar fashion each night. They could get away with that because when you go back to the catalog there were just so many damned good songs. “Give Me Back My Bullets,” “You Got That Right,” “Simple Man,” “The Ballad of Curtis Loew,” “On the Hunt,” “Saturday Night Special,” “Tuesday’s Gone,” “Travelin’ Man,” “I Ain’t the One”… it’s deep, and although the tenure of the original band was short-lived, at their peak, it was special, loved by many and highly celebrated to this day.—Scott Ulrichs
Artist Interview: Tone Hounding With Jerry McPherson – Nashville Session Legend
In our collective quest, because we’re all in this together, we need not look far when it comes to deep seeded knowledge, acquired over decades, where conclusions are drawn, and opinions formed. Culling the intel is particularly enjoyable because it gives us pause to ponder what we just read or heard, tie it to our own experience and go from there. The good news here is that there are solutions to be found in the tone quest, but the point being that even the best can’t possibly know everything there is to know. In the spirit of exploration, we were electrified when our good friend Gordon Kennedy heartily suggested that we spend a little time with session and side man Jerry McPherson who has been at his craft for over 35 years and tracked on over 900 albums. An inventive spirit and quick wit, with a stylistic reach that runs deep and wide, we knew the gems would be plentiful. Take a minute, check out his bio, and you’ll quickly conclude that anyone whose range spans Dolly Parton to Insane Clown Posse must have the goods. Sit in with us and hear about Jerry’s most interesting sessions, memorable songs and biggest eye-opening moments is his personal tone journey. —Scott Ulrichs
Reverb Revolution – Reflecting On The Latest Pedal Tech
In the beginning, there was simply reverb, a lonely knob on your amp that added more or less of the wet stuff to your guitar tone. Most often, that effect came from spring-reverb tanks mounted inside our amps, or as standalone devices like the Fender Reverb Unit. Later innovations with digital circuitry brought room, slapback, chamber, and hall textures into guitar player’s reach in the form of a stompbox or rack unit. Today, however, reverbs have spiked into one of the hottest categories in guitardom, as they reach far deeper into the stratosphere of time and space, thanks to the latest generation of computer chips and processors. Let’s explore a few pedals that exemplify this high-tech reverb revolution. Part of the trend reflects how electronic engineers now port powerful studio reverbs to something the size of a stompbox. Back in 1978, Lexicon released the 224 Digital Reverberator, which became a studio standard, followed a few years later by the Eventide SP 2016. These rack beauties gave recordings a kind of depth beyond mere sweetening. But now you can buy a pedal and bring that monster studio ’verb to your pedalboard. Picture being in a science-museum’s planetarium and watching the galactic show overhead, while hearing deep, creaking sounds of outer space. That effect is dominating the current reverb revolution, though it’s not the only type of reverb making waves. —Pete Prown
Artist Interview: Duke Levine – Adult Guitar
Finding one’s unique voice on their chosen instrument is a lifelong journey for a musician. Touring pro, session cat, and Telecaster enthusiast Duke Levine has taken that journey, having collaborated with some of the finest artists in the music industry. From Otis Rush and the J. Geils Band to Bonnie Raitt and a number of solo albums, Levine leaves an indelible musical thumbprint wherever he goes. Currently on tour with Bonnie Raitt, Duke discusses whether or not he has to modify his playing style or rig to support Bonnie; his “fairly simple pedal board setup, effects pedals and pedal platform, and the special guitars in his life. Sessions and tours coming up? He’s on the final leg with Bonnie… Then making a record with Robbie Fulks in Los Angeles…Doing a record with Mary Chapin Carpenter in the UK…and back on tour with Bonnie when she starts up again for next year. Later… “I want to put out a record for my band, Duke Levine & The Super Sweet Sounds Of The ’70s. “It’s all ’70s stuff. In a way, I have more fun with this than trying to write my own songs.” —Oscar Jordan
The Atlas C-1 – Brace It, Don’t Break It
When Advisory Board member and wickedly tasteful player Ryan Wariner, who currently holds down the Roger Fisher chair in Heart, reached out to broker an introduction to Patrick Geraghty, it felt serendipitous, given our profile on Allen Collins. Pat sent us his Atlas C-1, which is designed to support the vulnerable headstock-peghead neck junction of a stringed instrument. Our immediate reaction to the aesthetic was that Paul Bigsby would have been proud to have come up with this design. The smooth lines on the stainless steel and the feel and look of the device remind us of the quality of products manufactured in the U.S. in the ’50s. We caught up with Pat for his story on how the Atlas C-1 came about. A good number of players see the benefits of the Atlas C-1 when out on tour or shipping a guitar. Billy F Gibbons loves the Atlas and asked for a version to be an “all the time adornment,” because of the vibes of 1950s quality manufacturing, a compliment to that old-school high-quality look. Peter Stroud, Sheryl Crow’s band and Clay Cook, with Zac Brown have recently weighed in, and it’s all positive…join the momentum and accolades! —Scott Ulrichs
1960s Shin-ei Uni-Fuzz – Old And In The Grey
It’s not ironic that in the mid-1960s, Jimi Hendrix came of age as did the Psychedelic Machine, with both emerging from the cosmic horizons and made for each other. Designed by legendary engineer Fumio Mieda, the Psychedelic Machine, produced by the Japanese Company Honey (later Shin-ei), housed a combination of Vibe (then called Vibra Chorus), Fuzz, Tremolo, and Vibrato. Only 300 were purported to have ever been made in 1965, and if you can find one, you’re likely to shell out $6,000 or more if it’s in decent shape. It wouldn’t be long before Mieda and the Shin-ei team decided to separate the effects and sell them as individual pedals aptly named Uni-Vibe and Uni-Fuzz, as both were distributed in the U.S. by Unicord, Inc. We caught wind of a Uni-Fuzz floating around this part of the Rockies, made a call, and quickly melted four hours with a pedal we won’t soon forget. Might we go so far as to say the noteworthy impression may outlast our fine memories of the original Uni-Vibe we played earlier this year? It’s possible. The Uni-Fuzz is flat out fun for your vintage fuzz quest! —Scott Ulrichs