Facing a mandatory shelter-in ordinance to limit the spread of COVID-19, PG enacted a hybrid approach to filming and producing Rig Rundowns. This is the sixth video in that format, and we stand behind the final product.
In this episode, we catch up with Austin rocker Emily Wolfe. The power-trio frontwoman was planning to spend 2020 away from the Texas capitol, but like all of us, she’s adapting to the new normal and using the stay-home mandate to refocus on demos for the follow-up to her 2019 self-titled debut. (She drops a nugget in the Rundown that she’s working with a Queen of the Stone Age.) Emily virtually welcomes PG’s Chris Kies into her home jam space (complete with basketball hoop) for a fascinating chat covering her path from guitar to drums and back to guitar, explaining the allure (and the requirement) for a semi-hollow guitar, detailing the most-important factor in her purchase of a Fender 4x10 combo, and admitting she’s got an OCD problem.
Here is Emily’s first real guitar—a late 2000s Epiphone Sheraton that is completely stock. Three very important factors played into her acquiring the semi-hollow: the price was right for the frugal college student, it was black (her favorite color), and it reminded her of B.B. King’s “Lucille” 355. She attributes getting this guitar to taking her from a person that played the instrument to a burgeoning songwriter out to develop her own voice. She confesses that the peculiarities of this instrument (lower-valued pots and dull humbuckers) have shaped, influenced, and directed every tonal decision she’s made since buying this instrument. As for its specs, it’s the same as the day she bought it off the wall. And like the rest of her guitars, she equips them with Ernie Ball Slinky Cobalt strings (.010–.046).
She pairs the Cobalts with custom Dunlop Tortex Jazz III .88 mm picks for a scratchy, biting attack.
Many guitarists dream of being approached by a company to design a signature instrument and earlier this year Epiphone honored Wolfe with her own axe based on her Sheraton sidekick. Not officially unveiled until 2021, this prototype features diamond f-holes (much like the sigs for Trini Lopez and Dave Grohl), matte black finish, lightning bolt inlays, a master tone knob (Emily sometimes has problems stretching down to grab the fourth knob on her old Sheraton), and a set of ProBuckers.
You can see the pronounced headstock on Emily’s original Sheraton (left) versus the subdued version on her signature.
Bold covers require bold guitars, and if you’re gonna attempt to melt faces on Van Halen’s “Hot for Teacher,” you need to fly on a Firebird. Gifted to her by Gibson in early 2019, Emily has really enjoyed the upper-neck access she can grab with the guitar’s offset body allowing her to nail the tapping intro of the 1984 classic. Another facet of the guitar she’s enjoyed is the fact it has mini humbuckers offering a different tone in the studio since most of her guitars have full ’buckers.
Another thoughtful gift from Gibson is this ES-335 decked out with a matte-black finish, brushed-gold hardware, and a P-90 in the neck. If you look close enough, you see that she had the guitar giant outfitted her 6-string with a badge that says “Bad Bitch” under the bridge.
Here is Emily’s 2020 Epiphone SG Standard '61 Maestro Vibrola from their Inspired by Gibson Collection. This particular model aims to catch the mojo of the original doublecut ’61 Les Paul and has upgraded appointments like ProBuckers and CTS electronics.
A mainstay for Austin artists (and beyond) every March is SXSW. After years of lugging heavy amps down streets, up flights of stairs, and through crowded alleys, Emily recalibrated her attack by searching for a tube combo with wheels. She found gold on Craigslist and (foolishly) went alone to a guy’s gear shack and scored this 2000s Fender Concert Reverb 4x10. She’s fallen in love with the amps 10" speakers and open-back configuration because she relishes its big, full, punchy sound.
Everything on this board centers around the Fulltone OCD. All the other effects either hit or boost the OCD or affect its core tone with modulation. And for those pedal purists keeping score at home, she’s using the V2 model that was painted black with white lettering and sold through Chicago Music Exchange. It has a new output buffer and class-A input section for increased dynamics. At one time she had two stacked OCDs, but she’s since swapped out one for the Fulltone 2B Boost because the dynamics knob has a germanium diode limiter allowing her to tailor her sound to the idiosyncrasies of each room or venue. Before the OCD and 2B is an EarthQuaker Devices Tentacle that adds a nasty octave to the Fulltone filth. The TC Electronic Sub ‘N’ Up adds an octave and the Keeley 30ms Automatic Double Tracker incorporates a stereo effect. All those pedals are controlled by the Flex Reaction Compound 55 Switcher. Outside the looper and next in line are two always-on pedals—the MXR 6-Band EQ and a Klon KTR. The last two stomps are the Boss DD-500 Digital Delay and a Strymon Flint. All her guitars are kept in line with a TC Electronic PolyTune 2 Mini.
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Chris Kies has degrees in Journalism and History from the University of Iowa and has been with PG dating back to his days as an intern in 2007. He's now the multimedia manager maintaining the website and social media accounts, coordinating Rig Rundown shoots (also hosting and/or filming them) and occasionally writing an artist feature. Other than that, he spends time with his pitbull and enjoys non-guitar-related hobbies. Follow him on Instagram & Twitter.
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