Reinventing the weekend warrior
Doug McAlexander, Russ Cooper and Britt Stein have landed the perfect gig. They feed their families with full time jobs during the week, while supplementing their income by playing the music they love on great boutique gear on the weekends in front of thousands of people. They donāt have to deal with smoky bars, drunken fans or questionable bookings in seedy neighborhoods. Best of all, their work has meaning.
Bassist Doug and guitarists Russ and Britt are three members of the worship band, CrossTalk. Playing together since 2000, their work is somewhat unusual. Instead of just playing at their home church, their goal is to help other churches incorporate contemporary worship into their services. Whether this is a four-year in-house stint, like they finished in August, 2007, or helping match churches with musicians, CrossTalk makes the music happen.
The members of the band pride themselves on musical excellence, eschewing the āmake a joyful noiseā mantra that is often used to cover mediocre musicianship in churches. Each hones their craft and strives for the perfect tone ā picking of loads of custom and boutique gear in the process. We sat down with Godās gearheads to talk about what brought them here, why rock is important to church, and where the music is headed.
Whatās your background in music?
Doug McAlexander: Well, Iāve been playing since 1979. Some of the guys have been touring musicians in other genres, not Christian music. One guy is coming from a country background, and another is coming from a rock background, which is kind of good, because our original music is a blend. Itās what we call āmusicianās music.ā We play the standard praise music you hear on the radio, but we also play our own material, what you might call Southern Rock. Itād be like Allman Brothers, Lynard Skynard or Atlanta Rhythm Section doing Christian music.
Russ Cooper: I was six or seven when I first picked up guitar. My mother gave me one for my birthday. Weāve always had a piano around the house, and we basically had every instrument on Godās Earth in my living room that was bought from the pawn shop. I grew up in the ā80s, so I had that hair metal band influence, but I grew up in the church ā my parents were devote Christians. I had influences from both ends, but without the sex and drugs.
Britt Stein: I grew up on everything from classic rock to ā80s rock. Iām definitely a child of the ā80s, for better or worse. I liked all the guitar rock in the ā80s, plus Hendrix, Clapton, Jeff Beck, Led Zeppelin, Van Halen and The Who. I got involved with worship music probably ten years ago. My brother-in-law introduced me to that side of playing. I had been playing since about ā84, mostly in cover bands, but some original bands. It wasnāt professional ā kind of hobbyist stuff. Obviously we tried to do it with excellent quality, but any money we made went back into the band.
Do you guys have day jobs or are you professional musicians?
RC: I categorize myself as a professional musician with a day-job. Itās hard to have a wife and three kids and be a professional musician ā especially when your wife stays at home and takes care of the kids.
BS: Yes, I have a full time job. The playing is kind of an outlet, and really just a semi-pro thing.
Do any of you guys play outside of CrossTalk?
BS: Yes, I play in a wedding band named Mix Company 2000, or MC 2k, and we do weddings and corporate gigs. Itās a part-time gig, and this year has been a little slow. Weāre doing nice gigs, but there are just not a lot of them. I also play in a contemporary Christian group with my brother-in-law. We play in prisons, and itās our main form of outreach
What kind of things are CrossTalk involved in?
DM: We usually play every week for churches, and we also do coffeehouses and street ministries ā different types of outreach.
When you come into a church to play, how does that work?
RC: Sometimes churches donāt have the budget to hire a full-time worship leader, so we say, weāll give you a whole band, pre-rehearsed for the price of a worship leader, and you donāt have to worry about anything.
DM: We explore their needs with them. Sometimes they just need supplemental musicians, and I have professionals available for that. Sometimes theyāre looking for a total turnkey solution, including sound equipment, and we can do that as well. Sometimes they just want a worship leader. Sometimes youāre dealing with the pastor because they donāt have a minister of music, and in that scenario, youāre dealing completely with the pastor. We have had a situation where weāre dealing with a music minister, and he simply wants the band to back him. And in that case, our lead singer will focus on keyboards and guitars. Weāre just trying to meet the needs of the church, whatever they may be.
Do you guys work with churches to create praise bands?
RC: Sure, weāve done that in the past and we still do that when were called upon.
What is the reaction from churches to the contemporary types of music you play? Has there been any backlash?
DM: Thereās been a debate. I was touring in Christian music in the ā80s, and if guys today feel like somebody thinks theyāre a little edgy, they should have tried touring in the ā80s! Even songs by guys like Dallas Holm and Bob Bennett were considered ātoo much.ā
We have a little bit of sentiment left over from that, but for the most part contemporary Christian music has taken over, and some older members of congregations feel a little betrayed. Some of these folks have a good attitude about it; they go to church and tolerate the music, but some of them do have a bad attitude. There will be a clash from time to time and Iāve seen churches split because of it, having a traditional service and a contemporary service. A lot of churches do āblendedā services, where they do a combination of traditional music and contemporary music, and I think thatās the proper attitude.
BS: People are more accepting, especially in more contemporary settings ā though some churches still donāt accept drums. Contemporary is a really relative term when talking about musical styles and what is secular and what is Christian. Some people think that if a song has some sort of beat to it or gets heavy itās no longer Christian. Thatās tough for me, because I donāt think there should be any musical differences between the two.
How do you approach volume in a church setting?
RC: Well, it depends on the venue. Different churches have different types of worship. Locally, we have North Point Community Church, whose bread and butter is rock music ā a āif itās too loud, youāre too oldā type of place. So, it ranges from that to a small country church where you better watch your volume. Where I am at now, we generally just turn the amps around, mic them and crank the tubes; itās not as loud as I want, but itās not as quiet as it used to be.
DM: When youāre doing a church on Sunday morning, youāve got to be more sensitive about volume. In fact, in church situations, we frequently use an in-ear system. You may still have an amp on stage, but youāre probably not running it very loud.
BS: Iām not somebody who has a volume limit, but of course everyone has their own idea of whatās too loud. For a lot of churches volume is a huge issue. There are all age groups there, and they donāt want to single anyone out for being too loud.
How do you guys determine what kind of tone youāre going for?
RC: We donāt go into a situation and say we want this type of tone or that type of tone. Britt, is great. I know what heās going to do before he does it and he knows what Iām going to do before I do it. We always talk tone, and our tone keeps evolving year after year. We just dial it in to where we think it sounds great and go for it.
DM: Iāve never had anyone tell me that I need to sound different. Iāve had worship leaders ask me if I can make specific noises, but thatās about it. I think I have a decent enough tone going in there that it doesnāt stick out like a sore thumb.
What kinds of gear are you guys into?
BS: Iāve have an American Strat with DiMarzio Virtual Vintage pickups, a Strat with DiMarzio single coils and a Tele with DiMarzios as well. I have two Ibanezes with Seymour Duncans ā one has two humbuckers and the other has single coils. Just about everything I have Iāve dropped different pickups in, sometimes multiple times!
My newest amp purchase is a Genz Benz Black Pearl. Itās a Class A 30-watt amp, and it has different amps to run it at lower wattages. Itās a head, which I run through 2x12 cabinets from a company called Avatar. The speakers are Celestions.
I have an RMC Picture Wah, a Barber Tone Press compressor and Launch Pad boost pedal. Those have been on there for a few years. I previously had a modded Keeley compressor and a four-knob Keeley compressor, but this Barber compressor works with everything ā high-gain or low-gain.
RC: I have a ā97 model Strat Lonestar with Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates. I play through a pedalboard with pedals from MI Audio, Barber, and a little H2O pedal. I usually play through a hot-rodded Classic 30.
DM: Well, I play custom-made basses, and I have 13. I play fretless bass ā it almost sings. I also play fretted bass. I like Roscoe basses, made in Greensborough, North Carolina by a guy named Keith Roscoe, and I have five of those. I also like Michael Tobias Designs (MTD). The MTD series is all hand-made by Michael and a couple helpers. I play boutique gear; I donāt just go to a music store and pick something off the rack.
I also play Thomastik-Infeld strings, which are hand-made in Austria. Most of the guys Iām in contact with have gotten hooked on those strings. My speaker cabinets are made by some Princeton University physics professors ā theyāre called Euphonic Audio. Theyāre incredible ā lots of your higher level players are using them. They donāt color the tone of the instrument. The cabinets are very small; people canāt believe how loud they are. As the bass head, Iām using a boutique amp called a Thunder Funk, made by a guy named Dave Funk who has worked on the space shuttle and the F16 when he was doing government contract work.
You guys sound like youāre pretty into the gear, do you see that a lot in the church atmosphere?
BS: It depends. The church I go to now, they use Line 6 stuff for the most part. Lincoln Brewster, who is just phenomenal ā from what I understand he owns a lot of vintage gear, but when he travels and plays at churches, he plays through a Floor POD. Far be it from me to criticize that when he gets awesome tones. He proves that tone is all in the fingers. But I think he has some great patches on there ā he spent a lot of time developing some solid sounds.
With younger folks coming into the church, how do styles like punk and metal fit in?
DM: I try to keep an open mind about that, because in the ā80s when I was playing, there were people who thought we were of the devil. There were churches that wouldnāt even allow drums or a synthesizer in the building. Personally, those styles are not my cup of tea, but whatās important is whether the message is getting through. I have a son who is 22 and a daughter who is 19, and I would ask, as their stereo was blasting, āWhat in the world are you listening to?ā And they would say āItās Christian.ā But when I asked them what the message was, they couldnāt tell me. My only criticism, regardless of the style, is does it communicate?
When Isaac Watts started introducing meter into hymns, it was rejected in the same way contemporary music has been rejected: because it was new and different. People thought it was evil, because it introduced an autonomic response in the body ā it made you tap your foot and getting into the beat. What we now hold as sacred hymns were once considered contemporary music. So itās funny to see how cyclical things can be. If the message is there, it might reach somebody that standard church music may not reach.
BS: When I first got into playing at church, I kind of held back because I was afraid of playing rock music at church, even though I had played in a hard rock Christian band before I started playing churches. But now I do incorporate classic rock roots into my playing ā I definitely like the hard-driving rock.
What about guitar solos?
BS: Weāve been in situations where people accused us of being more concerned with the technical instead of the spiritual. Itās the same in secular music ā if it adds something to the song, then it should be there, whether itās a complete solo or just some riffs. If the person is up there and their motives are to serve God, I donāt see a problem.
Itās a tricky question though. There are a lot of different opinions on the topic ā is that person just showing off, or is it all about them? I grew up loving guitar solos. And I will say this, when we play prisons, they love to hear it. It draws them in. We just crank it up and play our hearts out, and a lot of guys tell their buddies. As long as it doesnāt take away from the worship, I see no problem with it.
Where do you see Christian music and worship music going from here?
BS: Well, when I got into it, there was already Christian hard rock. It seems that over a ten year period thereās been the same kind of changes as secular music. In the churches, music has become more contemporary. There are more guitars.
RC: Gosh, that is a hard question. Where is the future? I hope itās where the musicians and the worship leaders strive for excellence for the right reasons, because my belief has always been that God has given me a talent and I should use it the best that I can. And I think that everyone who has been given that talent should do it the same way. I hope music ministers and church musicians can get into a mindset where they do it the best they possibly can for our Lord.
I see the music going in cycles, and the trend has always been that the secular music scene is a step ahead and I think thatās because theyāre willing to go out and do new things. I think that churches lag behind because theyāre afraid of change. I think weāll always see that cycle with the secular world, musically. In churches, youāll see a big boom whenever the music scene catches back up with the secular scene and people become interested in the music. I think that music has a huge impact on people coming to church, so thatās why Iām so passionate about it and so passionate about doing it right.
To see live video of CrossTalk, check out their song list, or learn more visit praiseandworshipband.com.
Fifteen watts that sits in a unique tone space and offers modern signal routing options.
A distinct alternative to the most popular 1x10 combos. Muscular and thick for a 1x10 at many settings. Pairs easily with single-coils and humbuckers. Cool looks.
Tone stack could be more rangeful.
$999
Supro Montauk
supro.com
When you imagine an ideal creative space, what do you see? A loft? A barn? A cabin far from distraction? Reveling in such visions is inspiration and a beautiful escape. Reality for most of us, though, is different. Weāre lucky to have a corner in the kitchen or a converted closet to make music in. Still, thereās a romance and sense of possibility in these modest spaces, and the 15-watt, 1x10, all-tubeSupro Montauk is an amplifier well suited to this kind of place. It enlivens cramped corners with its classy, colorful appearance. Itās compact. Itās also potent enough to sound and respond like a bigger amp in a small room.
The Montauk works in tight quarters for reasons other than size, thoughāwith three pre-power-section outputs that can route dry signal, all-wet signal from the ampās spring reverb, or a mixture of both to a DAW or power amplifier.
Different Stripes and Spacious Places
Vintage Supro amps are modestly lovely things. The China-made Montauk doesnāt adhere toold Supro style motifs in the strictest sense. Its white skunk stripe is more commonly seen on black Supro combos from the late 1950s, while the blue ārhino hideā vinyl evokes Supros from the following decade. But the Montaukās handsome looks make a cramped corner look a lot less dour. It looks pretty cool on a stage, too, but the Montauk attribute most likely to please performing guitarists is the small size (17.75" x 16.5" x 7.5") and light weight (29 pounds), which, if you tote your guitar in a gig bag and keep your other stuff to a minimum, facilitates magical one-trip load ins.
Keen-eyed Supro-spotters noting the Montaukās weight and dimensions might spy the similarities to another 1x10 Supro combo,the Amulet. A casual comparison of the two amps might suggest that the Montauk is, more-or-less, an Amulet without tremolo and power scaling. They share the same tube complement, including a relatively uncommon 1x6L6 power section. But while the Montauk lacks the Amuletās tremolo, the Montaukās spring reverb features level and dwell controls rather than the Amuletās single reverb-level knob.
āHigh reverb levels and low dwell settings evoke a small, reflective room with metallic overtones from the spring sprinkled on topāleaving ghostly ambience in the wake of strong, defined transient tones.ā
If you use reverb a lot and in varying levels of intensity, youāll appreciate the extra flexibility. High reverb levels and low dwell settings evoke a small, reflective room with metallic overtones from the spring sprinkled on topāleaving ghostly ambience in the wake of strong, defined transient tones. There are many shades of this subtle texture to explore, and itās a great sound and solution for those who find the spring reverbs in Fender amps (which feature no dwell control) an all-or-nothing proposition. For those who like to get deep in the pipeline, though, the dwell offers room to roam. Mixing high level and dwell settings blunts the ampās touch sensitivity a bit, and at 15 watts you trade headroom for natural compression, compounding the fogginess of these aggressive settings. A Twin Reverb it aināt. But there is texture aplenty to play with.
A Long, Wide Strand
Admirably, the Montauk speaks in many voices when paired with a guitar alone. The EQ sits most naturally and alive with treble and bass in the noon-to-2-oāclock region, and a slight midrange lean adds welcome punch. Even the ampās trebliest realms afford you a lot of expressive headroom if you have enough range and sensitivity in your guitar volume and tone pots. Interactions between the gain and master output controls yield scads of different tone color, too. Generally, I preferred high gain settings, which add a firecracker edge to maximum guitar volume settings and preserve touch and pick response at attenuated guitar volume and tone levels.
If working with the Montauk in this fashion feels natural, youāll need very few pedals. But itās a good fit for many effects. A Fuzz Face sounded nasty without collapsing into spitty junk, and the Klon-ish Electro-Harmonix Soul Food added muscle and character in its clean-boost guise and at grittier gain levels. Thereās plenty of headroom for exploring nuance and complexity in delays and modulations. It also pairs happily with a wide range of guitars and pickups: Every time I thought a Telecaster was a perfect fit, Iād plug in an SG with PAFs and drift away in Mick Taylor/Stones bliss.
The Verdict
Because the gain, master, tone, and reverb controls are fairly interactive, it took me a minute to suss out the Montaukās best and sweetest tones. But by the time I was through with this review, I found many sweet spots that fill the spaces between Vox and Fender templates. Thereās also raunch in abundance when you turn it up. Itās tempting to view the Montauk as a competitor to the Fender Princeton and Vox AC15. At a thousand bucks, itās $400 dollars less than the Mexico-made Princeton ā68 Custom and $170 more than the AC15, also made in China. In purely tone terms, though, it represents a real alternative to those stalwarts. Iād be more than happy to see one in a backline, provided I wasnāt trying to rise above a Geezer Butler/Bill Ward rhythm section. And with its capacity for routing to other amps and recording consoles in many intriguing configurations, it succeeds in being a genuinely interesting combination of vintage style and sound and home-studio utilityāall without adding a single digital or solid-state component to the mix.
Stretching the boundaries of reverbās realm through dynamic and pitch control.
Nice core reverb sounds. Invites cool compositional and arrangement directions. High quality.
If you lack patience, it will be hard to unlock its coolest secrets.
$329
Gamechanger Audio Auto Reverb
gamechangeraudio.com
When the first Moog synthesizer appeared, it freaked out a lot of musiciansānot least for the way it blurred the divisions between instruments and their roles. Was it percussion? A keyboard? A reed instrument? Many effects makers build from this philosophical foundation. The Latvian company Gamechanger often seems to revel in itāan attitude thatās manifest in the companyās Auto Series pedals, which includes the Auto Reverb.
Thereās no reason you canāt use the Auto Reverb in a very straightforward fashion. The plate, spring, and hall settings are all very nice digital representations of their analog inspirationsāand Iād be perfectly happy playing an instrumental surf set with the spring mode, for instance. But because you can control the parameters like the reverbās level, decay, tone, and the filter with changes in pitch and dynamics, the Auto Reverb can function in highly orchestral ways, transforming itself from subtle to outlandish as a musical piece shifts in intensity or rises from low to high keys toward a blurred, hyper-spacious climax. While these attributes make the Auto Reverb a great fit for prepared guitar and conceptual piecesāand invites many themes and compositional ideas within those formsāit can just as easily be configured to create an especially dynamic and dramatic pop song arrangement on stage or in the studio that might otherwise be relegated to automations within a DAW. Itās fun to use, if not always intuitive. But knowing its ways can expand your musical options significantly.
Black Sabbath to Reunite for First Time in 20 YearsāOzzy Osbourneās Final Performance
The original Sabbath lineup will reunite on July 5 in Birmingham, England, and be joined by Metallica, Pantera, Slayer, and more.
The concert will feature founding members Tony Iommi on guitar, bassist Geezer Butler, drummer Bill Ward, and singer Ozzy Osbourne. Profits from the show, called "Back to the Beginning," will be donated to charities including Cure Parkinson's.
On future Black Sabbath plans, Ozzy's wife, music manager, and TV personality Sharon Osbourne had this to say (via Reuters) about Ozzy: āWhile other bandmembers might continue to make records and perform, Black Sabbath's gig at the birthplace of the band will certainly be the 76-year-old's final performance.
"For Ozzy right now, it's definitely: 'I love you and good night'," she said.
The shredder and son of legendary artist Frank Zappa gives a tour of his up-to-date gear, including a complex stereo switching system, four racks of pedals, and some of his fatherās favorite guitars.
Dweezil Zappa was always going to end up being an incredible guitarist. His dad, Frank Zappa, is celebrated as one of the most talented and creative guitarists in history, and by age 12, Dweezil was recording music produced by Eddie Van Halen. (Little surprise that heās covering Van Halenās 1981 stunner āPush Comes to Shoveā lately.) Heās been a bona fide guitar star ever since, releasing seven original solo records, six tribute records, two LPs with his brother Ahmet Zappa, and guesting on recordings across the music universe.
Ahead of his gig at Memphisā Minglewood Hall on his 2024 Rox(postroph)y tour, which celebrated the 50th anniversary of Frank Zappaās Apostrophe (') and Roxy & Elsewhere records, Dweezil gave PGās John Bohlinger a boot-to-bonnet look at his current road setup. Thereās a lot of ground to cover between his and his fatherās catalogues, and Dweezil loves the challenge, which he meets with a mix of his own gear and some special vintage assists courtesy of his dad.
Brought to you by DāAddario.Shut Up ān Play Yer Les Paul
This coveted GibsonĀ Les Paul Custom, featured on the cover of Frankās 1981 record Shut Up ān Play Yer Guitar, came out on the road this tour. Dweezil says that around 1986, his dad swapped in Dan Armstrong-made ceramic pickups. At one point, Frank installed a second input to try to use the guitar as a synth controller, but it didnāt track well enough to continue the experiment.
Along with the standard controls, the guitar includes switches to turn on different parts of the onboard preamp, which boosts the signal and adds plenty of gain. A rotary knob controls a wired-in parametric EQ set up to emulate different settings along the sweep of a wah pedal. Dweezil didnāt get much of the lowdown from his father on the complex operations; it was more trial-and-error. āYou just have to turn knobs until you find something that you like,ā he says. He connects to his rig with ZZYZX SnapJack magnetic cable connectors.
Rockin' with Roxy
Also out on the Rox(postroph)y tour is Frankās iconic Roxy & Elsewhere-era Gibson SG. Like the Les Paul, itās got a preamp circuit to boost the signal, a sweepable EQ, and can achieve acoustic, piezo-adjacent sounds. The preamp configuration in this one is red-hot; it dishes out tons of gain.
Signature Shabat
For Strat-style tones, Dweezil calls on his signature Shabat Lynx DZ, which has been used to dial in his cover of āPush Comes to Shove.ā Per Shabat, it has a ābody-mounted HSS configuration with a push/pull phase shift on the middle pickup, simplified single-knob layout, custom-cut 3-ply parchment/gold pickguard, and ā¦ a Vega-Trem VT1 tremolo."
The Lynx DZ is constructed with an alder body and a quartersawn hard maple, medium-C-profile neck with a 25.5" scale length. Itās loaded with Lollar Special S and Lollar El Rayo pickups, and the middle Special S is wired for phase shift. The Lynx, as well as the SG and Les Paul, are strung with Optima Gold-Plated 2028 FZ Frank Zappa strings (.008ā.046), and struck with DāAddario .50 mm celluloid picks. (Dweezil likes them for pick slides.)
On the Ground
Zappa keeps a significant board at his feet, which he controls with a Fractal FC-12 controller. He runs his sound in stereo, with different effects going to each side, so he keeps volume pedals for each side in front of him, plus a wah and expression pedal.
The row of pedals perched atop the pedalboard includes a TC Electronic Polytune 3 Noir, a Marshall-style prototype pedal, J. Rockett Audio Designs PXO, Union Tube and Transistor Lab, SoloDallas Orbiter, a Jext Telez White Pedal (to nab a specific tone for playing āNanook Rubs Itā), and a 29 Pedals FLWR.
In the Rack
On our 2013 Rig Rundown, Dweezil was using the Fractal Axe-Fx II, and this time around, heās upgraded to the Axe-Fx III as the basis of his sound. Given the sonic territory covered in his shows, it simply became too unwieldy and expensive to tour an analog rig.
The brains of his show are held in a rack system. A couple of out-of-sight splitter boxes help with the complex stereo signal paths, as do a pair of Voodoo Lab HEX audio switchers. The Axe-Fx III lives on the top shelf, and just below it are an Eventide H90 and TC Electronic TC 2290 that go to both sides.
The next rack down runs only to the left side, and includes a BK Butler Tube Driver, DigiTech FreqOut, Red Panda Radius and Raster, Krozz Devices Airborn Analog Flanger, and a Paul Trombetta Design Tornita! fuzz.
The level below it runs to the right side, with a āClown Vomitā fuzz, Chase Bliss Warped Vinyl, Korg FLG-1 Flanger, Chase Bliss Generation Loss, Goochfx Holy Cow, and another Red Panda Raster.
Wrapping up the rig is the bottom rack, which again runs to both sides. It carries most of Zappaās exquisite dirt sounds, thanks to a Union Tube and Transistor Tsar Bomba, Chase Bliss Automatone Preamp MKII, Goochfx Dirty Hippie, Tru-Fi Two Face, Foxrox Electronics Paradox TZF2, and a Paul Trombetta Design Rotobone that ā¦ somewhat reasonably apes a trombone sound. Paul Trombetta, we salute you.