third. When I solo, I have the
slap delay and the longer one
with a single repeat on. When I
play the softer stuff or ballads,
I add the Electro-Harmonix
Memory Man.
I also have a Line 6 M9,
mostly for looping, but also for
reverse delays where I need to tap
in the tempo. I need it, too, for
the Sweep Echo effect that only
Line 6 delays have—I use that
effect all the time for psychedelic
sounds. I use two expression pedals to control the volume of the
delay or loop. I also have a switch
to put the tuner into the chain.
Everything is live—like the classic jazz
records. We go in and try to play together as well
as we play in clubs. Before we record, we play
the music live for at least a year.
Which amps are you using?
I have a 1967 Fender
Bandmaster that has been
modified by Ziv Nagari. He
put in the right capacitors and
some other stuff that brought
it back to life. He also added a
high-end switch so that when I
play loud, the high end doesn’t
go away like it does on stock
Bandmasters. I also use a 1973
50-watt Marshall that Ziv just
cleaned up. For the Marshall,
I use a Bad Cat 4x12 cabinet
with Celestion Greenbacks,
and for the Bandmaster I have
a Bad Cat 2x12 with Celestion
Vintage 30s.
You used to use the Hughes &
Kettner Rotosphere for rotary-speaker sounds, right?
On the recording, I used the
Hughes & Kettner but I use a
DLS RotoSIM on my pedalboard.
Do you use the amps together?
Live, I usually use either/or—
the Bandmaster works better
with the blues band. On record,
I use both together. I was never
satisfied with just one. I run
two lines from the M9’s stereo
outputs. In Austin, I used a
’60s Fender Super Reverb that
I borrowed from a friend, and
one of Eric Johnson’s Marshall
1969 50-watt plexis with one of
his cabinets.
What did you mic them with?
I had a Shure SM57 and a Royer
121 ribbon mic on each cabinet,
and I used Neumann U 87s or
AKG C 414s for room mics.
Were you able to separate your
amp sound from the band
while playing live in the studio?
Both studios had places to separate the amp. To get my sound,
I need to move air and be near
the amp, so I usually leave the
door to the amp room open,
stand near it, and play really
loud—which causes leakage into
