SHIFTINGGEAR
RICH ECKHARDT
Cool Adventures in Hot Places
When I first picked up a guitar at eight years
old and awkwardly fumbled my way through
the opening bars of the Peter Gunn Theme, I
never expected to find myself performing in
the Iraqi desert, covered in dirt and directly
under the sun, beating down on everything
at a blistering 120 degrees. But that’s exactly
where I found myself, putting on a show for
our troops during a USO show in Baghdad. It
was also the first time
I had plugged into
a Marshall Mode
Four amp.
for all the same reasons that every guitarist on
the planet does. They just sound better! But
I realized when it’s hot enough to fry an egg
on your speaker cabinet, the stability of solid-state might be the best way to go.
It was a lesson that I had learned last year
while we criss-crossed the South with Toby
Keith. It was 102 degrees everyday; in Atlanta,
One thing I’ve learned from using Marshall
amps over the years is that that they are
generally too bright for my taste. As odd
as it seems, the first thing I do while setting
up my tone on a Marshall is turn the Treble
knob to zero. I know, it’s absolute heresy,
but that’s what I’ve found works for me
– believe me, I would never do this with any
other amp. From there I’ll dial in my bass and
midrange, and lastly
I’ll listen to how the
amp responds in the
room to decide if the
treble needs to be
increased or not.
Additionally, on fly
dates when I don’t
have the luxury of
playing through
my regular rig I’ll
carry a Roland GT- 8
multi-effects proces-
sor to run my guitar
through. I took the
time to create a set-
ting in it that matches
my big rig tone
for tone.
When a backline
company like
Coaxial Events and
Production is hired
to provide gear for
you for a performance, you never
know what you’ll
end up with for an
amp – especially
in the middle of a
place like Kuwait. To
prove this point, a
number of years ago
I was touring with a
blue-eyed soul band It’s always a great
in Italy. The Italian adventure getting to
backline company perform overseas. In
we hired hooked the last seven years
me up with a two Marshall’s Mode Four delivers 350 watts of power, but stays cool under stress. I’ve done six USO
channel Ampeg amp. Channel 1 was clearly my tube amps overheated halfway through tours, covering Iraq, Afghanistan, Germany,
marked for guitar, but the second channel was the set. It was just as hot and even more Italy, Belgium, Macedonia, Kosovo and
marked for accordion! It also had a three posi- humid the next night in Tampa, and to no Scopjia. You never know what you’ll end up
tion reverb – the first click was off, the second one’s surprise, my amps overheated again. playing through. Sometimes you’ll find an
was Reverb 1 and the third was Reverb 2. It Knowing that we would have the same condi- amp you really love and other times you just
actually didn’t sound that bad, but the entire tions for a third night in West Palm Beach, my have to get through the night in one piece.
band got a good chuckle out of it. Having had guitar tech Sammy Bones and I rigged up an And you thought it was going to be all sun-that experience, I thought to myself, “What air conditioner unit and duct taped two dryer glasses and autographs!
kind of Saudi knock-off piece of camel dung vents to it. We clipped the dryer vents to fans
will I end up with on this trip?” You can imag- and pointed them at the back of my Kustom Keep jammin’.
ine my relief when I saw that all-too-familiar Coupe tube amps. It was as ghetto looking as
Marshall logo waiting for me on the side of it gets, but it kept the amps cool enough that
the stage. they never shut down again. We still use that
A/C system for outdoor shows whenever it’s
over 90 degrees on stage.
Suleiman Arora (pronounced solo-man) from
Coaxial Productions ( coaxialkw.com) has
accompanied me on all three tours that I’ve
done with Toby Keith in Iraq. He’s the one
who hipped me to the solid-state Marshall
Mode Four amp. Personally I love tubes – the
sound, the smell and the texture. I love tubes
But I digress – back to the situation in Iraq.
Suleiman described the solid-state Mode Four
to me as having “beast power,” so I wasn’t
worried about it having enough volume. Now
I just had to create my tone.
Rich Eckhardt
Rich Eckhardt is one of the most sought after guitarists
in Nashville. His ability to cover multiple styles has put
him on stage with singers ranging from Steven Tyler
of Aerosmith to Shania Twain. Rich is currently playing
lead guitar with Toby Keith. His album Soundcheck is
available now, with another due this summer.
richeckhardt.com
