ago, and we were at this party the
promoter threw for us after the
show and . . . what can I say? I
just didn’t want to be there! I get
sensory overload sometimes when
there’s too much going on and
too many people talking to me at
the same time. It makes me withdraw. The lyrics are really supposed to be kind of sarcastic and
are not to be taken literally—with
the music business being what it
is, I need all the friends I can get!
sweep and ran that through a
Leslie-type pedal—an Option
5 Destination Rotation—and a
Line 6 DL4 Delay Modeler. I
set the amp fairly clean and then
got those keyboard-sounding
things by rocking the pedal back
and forth between the octaves
while I played the Bm–A–G–
D–A chord progression.
In the studio, I use an amp I built
myself. It’s basically a Marshall and an
AC30 all in one. It sounds like a huge
stack, but it’s only 30 watts.
Some of the guitar parts on
that song are so synth-like.
What sorts of effects did you
use to get that sound?
I’m a big fan of the old Digi Tech
Whammy pedal, and I always
wind up stumbling on some cool
new sounds when using it in
conjunction with other pedals.
For the second half of the first
verse, I played a P-90-equipped
MJ guitar and set my Whammy
to an octave-up, octave-down
Is the MJ your main guitar?
Yes. I have a few that I play both
in Collective Soul and on my
own. I own that one MJ Mirage
outfitted with P-90s, and it’s
become one of my very favorite
guitars for recording, especially
lead lines and melodic parts that
I want to stick out a bit more.
It’s an all-mahogany, chambered-
body guitar with a rosewood
fretboard. I own six humbuck-
ing-equipped MJs and another
that’s more in the Tele style, as
far as electronics go. They’re all
great, and each one has its own
personality, but my favorite is
a beat-up black one that’s all
mahogany with an ebony fret-
board. I asked [MJ owner] Mark
Johnson to do a thin, satin-black
finish directly on top of the
wood—without any clear-coat
protection—so it’s taken some
lumps out on the road.
Which songs do you use
your Soloways on?
I used the 6-string with great
results on “Sunrise” from my
solo record. I used the 7-string
on “Caterpillar,” “A Steel Cage
to Ride,” and “New Song”—
basically anywhere I could find
an excuse to play it!
What other guitars do you play?
I’ve got a few PRS McCartys and
two Soloways. One is a 6-string
Swan that has a cocobolo top on
a swamp ash body. The other is
a 7-string Swan with a swamp
ash body and a black lacquer
finish. Those Soloways are really
cool for drop tunings because
of their long 27" scale, and they
hold together nicely under distortion. I think Jim [Soloway] is
kind of a jazz guy, so it’s funny
that I use his instruments for the
big rock stuff.
What sort of amps do you
prefer?
Onstage, I use a pair of Vox
AC30s for clean stuff, and for
dirty stuff I play some Splawn
amps—a Nitro and a Quick Rod
through Splawn 4x12 cabs loaded
with Eminence Greenback-type
speakers. I love Splawn amps.
They’re made at this small shop
in North Carolina and have a
great hot-rodded Marshall type
of sound. In the studio, I use an
JOEL KOSCHE’S GEARBOX
Guitars
Assorted MJ Guitar Engineering
Mirage models (one with P-90s,
six with humbuckers, and one with
Tele-style electronics), one 6- and one
7-string Soloway Swan, assorted
PRS McCarty models
Amps
Two Vox AC30 Custom Classics,
Splawn Nitro head, Splawn Quick
Rod head, Splawn 4x12 cabinets
with Eminence speakers, homemade
SugarFuzz 30-watt tube combos
Effects
Ernie Ball Volume Pedal, Digi Tech
Whammy, Morley Bad Horsie 2 wah,
Boss AW- 3 Dynamic Wah, Boss OC- 3
Super Octave, MXR EVH 90 phaser,
Rocktron Replifex, Rocktron MultiValve,
Heet Sound EBow, Line 6 Echo Pro,
Option 5 Destination Rotation,
Z.Vex Vextron Series Mastotron
fuzz, Keeley Compressor
Strings and Picks
Ernie Ball 2215 6-string sets
(.010–.052), Ernie Ball 2621
7-string sets (.010–.056), Dunlop
Ultex Sharp . 73 mm
Miscellaneous
Two Voodoo Lab GCX Guitar
Audio Switchers, Voodoo Lab
Ground Control Pro Programmable
MIDI Foot Controller, Voodoo Lab
Pedal Power 2, Boss TU- 12 tuner,
Furman PL-Plus Power Conditioner
and Light Module, Furman PL-Plus D
Power Conditioner and Light Module
In the studio, Kosche prefers powering his Eminence-loaded Splawn 4x12s with one of the
three SugarFuzz 30-watt tube combos he built himself after studying Gerald Weber’s and Aspen
Pittman’s definitive books on tube amps.
