pedals
For 20-plus years I’ve played Marshall JCM 800s.
Last year, I started getting into the Marshall Origin
Series. I bought the combo and the 50-watt head, and
most recently—and I know this may be taboo with the
TQ crowd—a Fender Tone Master digital modeling
amp because I recently started playing in a Hank
Williams tribute band and figured that would be a
good fit. I’ve been using that almost exclusively and
set the amp between 5 and 6 to get that expressive
touch sensitivity, on the edge of break-up, and kick
in the pedal from there. It stacks well, too. You can
run a TS style pedal in front of the Hot Brown and,
man, it’s wonderful. It works great in a bluesy context
with chunky rhythm chords. Back to the Origin Series
Marshalls really quick, I played in an AC/DC tribute
band for 20 years, and we just mutually agreed that it
had run its course. Those Origins sound amazing, and
the 50-watt essentially replaced my JCM 800 in the
later days of the band. It can nail Angus’ tone. I read
an article recently where Tracii Guns was raving about
those amps.
TQR: The Contour control is mysterious because
it doesn’t do an obvious midrange sweep.
Instead, it’s entirely interactive with where
you set the tone and gain. We find many OD
pedals to be voiced bright and your pedal can
be darker and chewier.
What I love about the pedal, and this goes back to
Eddie, is that while his tones were broken up and
distorted, they were still clean from the perspective
of clarity. You could hear all of the notes. That’s
what I was going for with the pedal. I have it on all
my pedalboards.
TQR: Riverhorse loved the 20-watt Marshall
SV20H, their hand wired shout-out to cranked
Plexi tones at lower, but certainly not quiet,
volumes. So, what’s next? What else are you
working on?
TQR: How would you describe what the Contour
control is doing?
It is about the midrange, but I run mine with the
Contour all the way off. It shifts through the tone
spectrum. All the way left, it’s not scooped, and all
the way right, it’s not over-the-top mid push. It’s hard
to describe.
TQR: No one would mistake this for a clean
boost even at the lowest gain setting and
volume up. It’s still overdriving the amp in
a pleasing manner.
Live Greg Martin, photo by Christie Goodwin
Right. The gain is from the JFET transistors. Wampler
used J201s and I use J202s, which are a little hotter.
Right now, I’m working in collaboration with a small
music store/guitar shop in Bowling Green, Kentucky,
called All Things Guitar. We’re making a pedal that
will exclusively sell through their shop called the ATG
828. We recently received nice accolades and praise
from Billy Gibbons, and he ordered four of them, so
I hope to finish them up this weekend and get them
out to him. It is my take on the Nobels ODR-1. We
tweaked the circuit a bit, enhanced the EQ with a
bass control, and apparently he really likes it. I spoke
with Greg Martin a couple weeks ago and he shared
with me that he and Billy went down the rabbit hole
with the pedal for about two and a half hours. To me,
holy cow—this is Billy Gibbons, one of my and Greg’s
biggest influences. To have him even know anything
about my small pedal company just blows my mind.
Buddy Guy also picked up a couple of them.
TQR: What type of amps do you play, and where do
you set them to where you feel the KY Hot
Brown shines?
TONEQUEST REPORT V.25 N.8 June 2024
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