FEATURE
Daniel Lanois’ Gearbox
Guitars
’50s Gibson goldtop Les Paul with P-90s
and a Bigsby tremolo, ’60s Gibson
Firebird V, ’50s Fender Telecaster, ’60s
Fender Mustang, ’60s Guild M- 20 with
L.R. Baggs M1 pickup
Amplifiers
’50s Fender Deluxe, ’50s Fender
Harvard, ’60s Vox AC30
Effects
Boomerang Phrase Sampler, KORG
SDD-3000 digital delay
have some really nice Martins and Gibsons, but
that little guitar records wonderfully.
Are you particular about pickups?
I’m a P- 90 player. But when I want to do some-
thing really delicate, where I turn the amplifier
up and play really softly, the humbucker is a
friend. Firebirds are really good for that.
What about amplifiers?
I usually play ’50s tweed Fenders because
they’re just the most musical sounding amps,
and at low volume they have the most beautiful
tone. The natural overdrive on those tweeds
can produce fascinating results too. But I’ll do
things like put a Vox 12" speaker in a tweed,
because the Vox speakers will handle a lot
more volume and have more headroom. That’s
a really interesting combination of sounds. And
tweed combos weigh a lot less than an AC30! I
like hitting the amp with overdrive sources too,
though. The Korg SDD-3000 digital delay is a
big part of my sound, too, which is something I
got from The Edge. Even if you don’t use it as a
delay, you can get a nice boost out of it.
Are you a pedal nut?
I’ll use the Boomerang a lot. Occasionally, I’ll use
a fuzz wah for a little more tone variation. But
the truth is, I don’t really like playing with my feet
[laughs]. When you don’t do too much pedal
work, it makes you resourceful in other ways.
What do you make of players who go to
great effort to emulate other players’ style
and tone?
Well, we enter this world as admirers. And
we’re obviously inspired by other guitar players and driven by that inspiration. But, ultimately, as they say, students must leave the
master’s house to find their own voice. That’s
something all of us should try to do, though
you certainly can’t teach that. It’s something
you do on your own. I can definitely say that
about my pedal-steel playing, and I’m glad
and lucky I was able to find something in the
instrument that belongs to me. I wish that for
every guitar player.
Expect the lightweight champion
of the world to be like this:
a full-grown Huber, but lighter than
anything you‘ve ever seen before.
Tasteful the way it looks, elegant
in the way it sounds, this redwood
redefines the relationship between
weight and sound. Expect its pure
tone to take over your world.
Nik Huber Guitars
Borsigstr. 13
63110 Rodgau /Germany
Fon + 49 - (0) 61 06 - 77 21 66
Fax + 49 - (0) 61 06 - 77 21 67
www.nikhuber-guitars.com
