WILCO’S NELS CLINE
“Sadly, happily, strangely, I seem to be known for
using a lot of effects pedals,” Nels
Cline told us. “For me, they’re
like colors on a palette, and
they’re not a gimmick.” Though
the talented guitarist plays in a
number of projects, we checked
out his expansive setup for his
most high-profile gig—lead guitarist for alt-rock band Wilco.
The keys to Cline’s sound are
overdrive, compression, volume,
and delay: “This is the exploded
version of those parameters,” he
explains. The volume pedal is
particularly important for Cline,
who was introduced to its usefulness in the ’70s through guys like
Steve Howe and Robert Fripp.
In addition to using it for violin
sounds and bringing volume up
and down, Cline—always the
single-coil lover—also employs
the volume pedal to defeat
60-cycle hum. “I just always have
my foot on it,” he says. He uses a
Boss FV-500H because it doesn’t
break easily and is transparent.
The other key to his tone is
the elusive Klon Centaur, which
he relies on for lead work like the
solos on “Impossible Germany”
and “Ashes of American Flags.”
The latter also employs his
Boss VB- 2 Vibrato and Electro-Harmonix Holy Grail Reverb.
Other favorites of Cline
include the Fuzz Factory, which
he describes as, “really strange and
intense and uncontrollable,” and
the Magnavibe, which he says is
top Signal Chain: Boss TU- 2 tuner > Z.Vex Fuzz Factory> Fulltone DejáVibe> Digi Tech Whammy > Boss CS- 3
Compression Sustainer > Boss VB- 2 Vibrato > Bigfoot FX Magnavibe > Klon Centaur > Crazy Tube Circuits
Starlight Overdrive > Crowther Hotcake > Fulltone ‘ 69 > Electro-Harmonix Pulsar > Crazy Tube Circuits Viagra
Boost > Boss FV-500H volume pedal > Boss DD- 3 delay > MXR Phase 45 > Boss DD- 7 delay
Bottom Signal Chain: Signal Chain: Electro-Harmonix Deluxe Memory Man > Electro-Harmonix 16 Second
Delay > Electro-Harmonix Ring Thing > Korg Kaoss Pad 2 > Electro-Harmonix Holy Grail Plus.
Photos by Rebecca Dirks
CLICK
HERE
Watch Cline take his
setup to the extreme
in our Rig Rundown
at premierguitar.com.
the only pedal that replicates the
tone of an old Magnatone amp
he records with. He pairs the
Fuzz Factory with his Digi Tech
Whammy (set to two octaves
down) and punishes the strings
with a spring for end-of-the-world
tones. Setting the Whammy
between settings, resting his
battered Jazzmaster on his amp,
and working his Korg Kaoss Pad
2—generally used for tape delay
effects—unlocks out-of-tune
clusters and further wackiness.
Cline pairs his Fulltone
DejáVibe and Boss DD- 7 for
Band of Gypsies-style Hendrix
tones (“Doesn’t come in that
handy with Wilco,” he jokes),
employs the Fulltone ’ 69 for
germanium fuzz tones, and calls
the Crazy Tube Starlight into
action when old-school RAT
tones are in order. His vintage
Electro-Harmonix 16-Second
Delay has been part of his
sound for more than 25 years
after Bill Frisell turned him
onto it, and it’s always record-
ing, used for looping on the fly.
