had an AC30 on one side and a
Deluxe Reverb on the other. The
two on the outside are always on,
and then the Marshall I turn on
and off the same way you would
a fuzz box. For years I tried channel switching, but I got frustrated
with it, because in recording you
don’t do that—you get to the
chorus and you just add stuff
instead of taking it away. To
do that, I use a Morley George
Lynch Tripler pedal.
Do you have a go-to setup for
your jangly rhythm parts, and
if so, what are your preferred
pickup selections and amp
and effect settings?
The Deluxe Reverbs and tweed
clones are my go-to amps for
jangly parts. And I really only
have two main guitars in the
studio: One is a ’ 68 Les Paul
Custom Black Beauty, and then
I have a ’ 69 Tele that’s really
light. I tend to always be on
the bridge pickup—I’d rather
have the guitar always sound
bright, and then just dial the
treble back on the amp. The
only other variables are how
much gain to use on the amp
or whether to turn off the Hot
Plate and turn the amp down
a bit to get some sparkle, or to
bring the Hot Plate into it to
get some muscle. Live, though,
the amps tend to be pretty
cranked. I really like AC30s,
but I think the Deluxe is really
my favorite, because it does its
own kind of gain thing: You can
find a sweet spot where, if you
play lightly it’s crystal clear, but
if you dig in it’s crunched up.
That’s the best, because then it’s
just a question of your hands
deciding what you want to hear.
Are the Les Paul and Tele
all-original?
Yep, I only changed the tuners
on the Les Paul—I put some
CAWS’ TWEED
DELUXE CLONES
nada Surf frontman matthew caws’ main amps for
The Stars Are Indifferent to Astronomy were two tweed
fender deluxe clones built by John “J.J.” Jenkins from
twangmaster Guitars ( twangmasterguitars.com). “When i
found matthew was using thd hot Plates to step down the
wattage on his amplifiers, i asked him, ‘Why don’t you use
amps that already have the wattage that you’re stepping
your amps down to?’” Jenkins says. “then i fired up the
tweed deluxe [clones] i built for myself, which run at about
15 watts or so, and i think he was an instant convert!”
to give caws the tones he wanted in roadworthy amps,
Jenkins says, “i wanted to build him a rig that preserves the
vintage character of Leo fender’s original 5e3 circuit, but that
also enabled him to get parts and service anywhere his tours
may take him. i started with a couple of fiberboard kits from
Weber and a chassis from mojotone. the transformers are
mercury magnetics toneclones—my go-to transformers. for
the tone capacitors, i went with Jupiter paper-and-oils. they
have a nice vintage sparkle and clarity, nicer than [Sprague]
orange drops. the resistors are all carbon-comp, either
ohmite or noS allen-bradleys. for tubes, i went with noS
rca 5Y3 rectifiers, since there are plenty of them out there.
the power tubes are new tung-Sol 6v6s. they are the closest
IF YOU HIT A CRASH CYMBAL
LIGHTLY, IT’LL GO WHOOOOSH, AND
I THINK GUITARS CAN BE THE
SAME WAY: IF YOUR AMP’S REALLY
SINGING, YOU CAN PLAY LESS AND LET
THE HARMONICS REALLY DO STUFF.
Waverlys on there. But of course
I kept the originals. I got both
of those at Main Drag Music in
Brooklyn about 15 years ago.
Are those the same guitars you
take on the road?
I only take Les Pauls on the
road. I have a 1960 Les Paul reissue from 1996, and I also have
an Edwards, which is an incredible Japanese knock-off made
by ESP. They can’t export them
here—they call them lawsuit
guitars because they’re so perfect.
They cost about a grand, they’re
light as a feather, and they sound
incredible. I actually may have
played that more than my Black
Beauty on this record.
Why do you only play Les
Pauls on the road?
For years, I was the only guitar player, so I got completely
hooked on the thickness of the
sound. Even now, with Doug
playing with us on the road, I’m
still hooked—it’s what I know.
“Waiting for Something”
begins with a beautiful arpeggiated part that’s doubled on
acoustic and an electric that’s
sounding to old rca “black plates”—which are getting really
hard to find at a good price. the 12aX7 preamp tube is also
a tung-Sol, and the 12a Y7 is a gold-pin electro-harmonix. i
used this tube compliment because they’re all still made or
easily found in music or electronics stores worldwide. another
beauty of the 5e3 tweed deluxe is that it doesn’t need tube
biasing—you can just swap out the tubes and it will run fine.
for speakers, i went with a 30-watt Weber 12a125a and a
25-watt Jensen P12r. the higher-wattage speakers give the
amp a cleaner breakup, with more tube color and saturation
than muddy speaker breakup, giving the amps a nice twang.”
