Gearbuds

SO STOKED we got to hang out with Balthazar who took us to Tone School on all things Balthazar Amps.

We also touched on: French rock, Harmonic Percolators, Systek, Catalinbread, Phonocut and the art of vinyl cutting, getting medium pissed, Kurt Cobain’s amps, Chicago Bears cookbooks, and Dos Santos.

Then Balthazar really helps us understand amplifier design, spending a decade working with the Smashing Pumpkins, Selmer history, variacs and playing in Hum and Menthol.

Pleeeeeeease stick around until the end for one of the funniest stories ever told on the pod about Matt Talbot, Earth Analog, and a serpent.

Ever wanted to learn where the bone comes from in a bone nut?

The hunks talk: Gear overkill for a podcast, setting up Dave’s 80s Paisley Strat, D’addario strings, glass on a chalkboard, updating the Symphony of Corrections, Chicago’s Terry Kath, & Stanley Donwood’s new Radiohead book

More: Catalinbread Karma Suture and Henry’s quest for all of the Harmonic Percolators, J Masking tape, tips for upgrading cheap guitars, every rockstar you know someday will die, reckoning with influence, & cutting your own vinyl

In our quarter century ‘sode, we sit down with Cadien to talk fuzz pedals, the Jext Telez Dizzy Tone, jamming with Eddie Vedder, Heartworn Highway and other docs, tracking the new Twin Peaks record Lookout Low with Ethan Johns, meeting the Boss, that one Chance the Rapper story, being Tall Boys in rock and roll, Fender and Silvertone guitars and amps, and recording Finn Wolfhard’s band Calpurnia at Treehouse Records.

If you’re gonna pedal, pedal.

Discussed: tips for getting into live sound, cover bands vs. tribute bands, altogether too much about Pearl Jam, Chicago Bears meatballin’, feeler posts, ef the Chili Peppers, & Pigface on tour

Further: tips for playing live with backing tracks, redundant rigs, keeping your set tight, Jerry Jones guitars, Make’n Music, setting yourself apart with your gear, & the unique challenges of mixing Sunn O)))

In this duo cast, GH talks: NAMMin all over Anaheim, intentional vaguery, a free gift from Access Analog, getting upset over the lawsuit-era price bubble, bolt-on Les Pauls, RIP Ginger Baker, the Metallica S&M2 premier, the Empty Bottle, Easy Demon at Virgin Hotel, and maybe but not really renaming the podcast

Then: Hank’s new/old Rane mixer from NPR studios, Behringer cloning headphones, TechZone Audio Products cloning Neumann, Townsend Labs Sphere L22 cloning all the mics, famous guy eBay buys, visiting the Lakland factory, and Hank’s custom Fender Villager body build

We hang out with the pedal builders/studio owners/singer-guitarists and discuss: their bands The Evictions & Wizzo, Fender wasn’t the first electric bass, Paul Tutmarc, the Stromberg Electro, bad advice on forums, giving Robert Plant a handy, f*ck Sting as always, Blowvember, tv and commercial acting, CAPI and DIY outboard gear, Neumann KM84 clones, API 550A, 1176 Revision F, KM84 as the first phantom powered mic, and Access Analog virtual hardware

Then: The Last Vegas, dawn of Daredevil, Atomic Cock, High on Fire & Matt Pike, the Red Light District and dreaded 1.5khz, Earl Slick, Ron Asheton, Aerosmith’s Brad Whitford, the travails of being a small pedal builder, breadboxing vs breadboarding, and opening for AC/DC

Talks: Cleaning microphones, JamHub, Sconi smack talk, old flats, Gibson and Breedlove headstock breaks, Titebond, The Who as punkles, Abbey Road, Star Wars nerdery, phallic sound holes, and looping with the Boss RC20XL

More talks: the life of live sound man, scenery design, rigging arenas, pre-CBS router humps, Jackson and Fender booths at NAMM, Randy Rhodes, connecting with Dick Dale and his signature Malibu, incognito Neil deGrasse Tyson, live performance bow tie tips, fixing Guitologist’s Gene Autry Harmony, and takin electrolysis baths

Chats: the Lakland Sassmaster, rescuing beautiful pieces of wood, Kramer aluminum necks, padauk sawdust looks like blood, the Dimarzio Super Distortion, we dig art, Custom Shop vs. Expensive Shop, getting petty on deals, Orange and Tyrant cabs, gifts from @mattskow, talking shit on The Police and the new Andy Summers Strat, and a collection of egos taken out of context

Then: Fender 300T, Minsk, Asphadel Wine, satisfying two piece bands, Gearhunks going to NAMM, Marz Brewing Summer Synth, RIP Rik Ocasek, avoiding bad building habits, PLEK machines, Geezer Butler ONLY plays Lakland, Chi-Sonic, Skyline Series, building our custom Laklands, custom inlays, engaging kill switches, peanut butter and chocolate, Bass VI in a housefire, and our spirit animals

Discussed: tape machines vs. plugins, the importance of chaos, CLASP, Electrical Audio seminar with Steve Albini and Greg Norman, continental breakfast, Billy Corgan as the alternative 90s Ted Nugent, Tony Visconti techniques, and listening as a producer vs. listening as a fan

More: KEXP, records vs. live performance, Ableton tips, Waves Abbey Roads plugin, how to suck at recording, Zola Jesus, Gorillaz, Rick Wakeman, David Bowie, eating hot dogs in music videos, making decisions based on format, Mesa Boogie MKIIA, tape delay and the HH Multi-Echo by Guild, Cyclone Analogic CR-78 Clone (TT-78), vintage Roland Cube 60, Ross Distortion, vocal effects vs. voice lessons, and white zin in the afternoon

Also: Gear thieves are dicks, support Chicago Guitar Space, Prince is a dick about guitars even after he’s dead, Gruhn’s, trading the Aztec bass, EV RE-20, Rob Trujillo, Fender Rhodes history, Current Mood, Dyno-Tone, iConnectivity Mio10 and Auracle, Prophet 6, G&L ASAT Special, Korg Microkorg XL Plus, showrooming, loving on Soundtoys Little Alter Boy & Echoboy, Rivera combo amps, Studious Amplifiers, Third Coast Guitars, Eurorack, LoopOp, Rob Scallon, Sweetwater, Boss pedals, and the ethics of new and used gear.