over a year on the road. Those tubes got hammered. So it got a
breath of fresh life, even though they were vintage tubes. It was
really hard to compare, because I’d been listening to it in the studio before, and then I was listening to it onstage, so it was sort of
apples to oranges. So I couldn’t really say one was better than the
other, but I know it makes me feel a lot better to have new-old-stock tubes [laughs].
Is there a specific brand of NOS tubes you prefer, like
Mullards or RCAs?
Schnier: I have a wide variety of stuff. I keep my eye open for
stuff, and I buy a lot of it on eBay. I’ve got a whole bunch of
these GE tubes that were made by Mullard, and I’ve got some old
Siemens tubes. I literally have two huge tubs full of them at home,
and they’re made by all these different companies. But it seems
like there were only a few companies that were actually doing the
work. Like, Telefunken, as far as I know, wasn’t actually making the
tubes—they were just branding them. But Mullard did a lot of the
work, and some American companies were doing some of the work.
Siemens and some companies in West Germany were doing some
production, as well. Some of that stuff is fantastic, but you really
just kind of have to listen to them.
Al, you mentioned you’re using a plexi Marshall in some venues
now …?
Schnier: It’s a 50-watt head and a vintage 8x10 cabinet with old
Celestions that are maybe 10 or 15 watts each. They’re the same
ones they used in the old Vox amps and the old Bluesbreakers.
Do you use that in the larger venues for more volume and
headroom or …
Schnier: I use them because I can [laughs]. It’s funny, I bought
a full stack while we were recording the album, and I fell in love
with it. That one’s 100 watts with two 4x12 cabs, and I recorded
a bunch of the tracks with that. And then when we were on tour I
came across the 50-watt head and 8x10 cab. That’s just something
that I really like. It’d be one thing if we were playing in arenas and
stadiums, but a lot of times we’re playing in theaters and clubs—
and I just don’t want to rip off everybody’s heads in the first 10
rows, so a lot of times something like an AC30 makes a lot more
sense. But there’s something about a plexi … you get them up to
around 4 or 5, and they just sound great—especially with a Les
Paul. And those old plexis really clean up nicely, too. I understand
why guys like Hendrix and Jimmy Page only had a couple of pedals on the floor—it’s really all you need.
Let’s talk about some of the other new songs. The main riff to
“Puebla” has this warm slapback that creates a fantastic vibe,
despite being pretty understated. What did you use for that?
Schnier: That was a Diamond Pedals Memory Lane delay—which
has been my main stage delay pedal for years. The thing I like
about those is that, of all of the tap-tempo analog delay pedals
out there, it’s the one that sounds the best to me and has the features I need readily available. I actually own a few of them, and
I’m using the second version. I’m a big fan of tape echoes, first
and foremost, and I used to use a real Echoplex on the road, and
then I switched to the Fulltone Tube Tape Echo, and the biggest
Two Becker Retro-Grads, Terry McInturff Sportster,
Danelectro Baritone
Amps
Tony Bruno Underground 30 driving a Bruno 3x10, Tony
Bruno 80-watt tweed Twin clone, Fender Vibratone
Effects
Analog Man ARDX20 analog delay with AMAZEO
controller, Analog Man Beano Boost, Analog Man
Bi-Comprossor, Xotic EP Booster, Fulltone Tube
Tape Echo
Stings, Picks, and Accessories
D’Addario EXL110+ electric strings, D’Addario EJ16
acoustic strings, heavy In Tune celluloid picks,
Evidence Audio cables
problem I had was managing all of the settings on the fly during a
song. Otherwise, I’d be using one regularly, because I like the tone
of a tape echo more than anything else. The thing is, so many of
the parts I write depend on the delay being in sync with the song,
but I’ve never really been a big fan of using a digital delay or some
kind of MIDI-based delay. The stuff that The Edge has done with
the Korg SDD-3000 is amazing, and it sounds great in the mix
with his whole rig, but it’s not something I’ve ever come to terms
