After a hiatus, the rootsy rock heroes reconvene with new guitars—including James' signature Gibson ES-335—to deliver a self-titled album of big beats and powerhouse jams.
My Morning Jacket guitarists Jim James and Carl Broemel both play amazing, beautiful, high-end guitars. But during sessions for their latest album, My Morning Jacket, they spent some time gripping a pair of unusual, less-than-fancy instruments that probably wouldn't need to be kept behind the glass case in your local guitar store.
It all started when James received an off-beat custom 6-string from the proprietor of L.A.'s Old Style Guitar Shop. "My friend Reuben Cox made me a Tele out of plywood from Home Depot," James says about his unique high-end/low-end hybrid. "It weighs about 2 pounds and has a Fender neck on it, but the body is plywood. It has one humbucker at the bridge and no knobs or anything. That thing just snarls."
Not to be outdone, Broemel opted for something vintage with plenty of quirk. "My new fave for the studio is a Silvertone U1," he says. "It's cool, light, plucky, and I used it on probably half of the new record. It's very clean and very low output, so the amps always sound friendly. It was a guitar you bought at Sears for $20. It has a lipstick pickup, a volume and tone knob, and a 3-position switch that in the middle position doesn't do anything, but one way is a low roll-off and the other way is a high roll-off. For a pickup that's that close to the neck, to be able to roll-off some lows makes it more useful to me."
My Morning Jacket - Love Love Love (Official Video)
James and Broemel often both play Gibson or Gibson-style instruments—at least during live shows—but it's pretty easy to distinguish between the two of them. James' lines have a feeling of longing or searching to them, as if he's reaching beyond himself for that perfect note that's just past his grasp. Although not after he kicks on his gated Devi Ever USA Fuzz Monster, at which point it just gets nasty (his lead on "Love Love Love" is a great example). Broemel is more subtle. He's often resting his hand on his Bigsby, which gives his playing a faux-slide feel, although at times he'll use a real slide, like on "Regularly Scheduled Programing," for colors and textures. Those differences are most pronounced when they're both soloing at the same time, as they are during the climax of "In Color," off the new album.
But My Morning Jacket isn't Aerosmith, and they're not purposely choosing their guitars to distinguish their tones. "I think those guys know more about guitar tones than what you should and shouldn't do," Broemel laughs. "I think we're more like kids. We're just bumbling through it."
TIDBIT: Even though he has a new signature model ES-335, Jim James chose to use a guitar made from Home Depot plywood on some of My Morning Jacket.
Nonetheless, rich tones abound on My Morning Jacket, whichoozes the band's signature blend of rootsy, '70s countrified rock; tight, cogent songwriting; and space to stretch out and jam. Songs like "Penny For Your Thoughts" and "In Color" are fine examples of that ethos. But as the band headed to L.A.'s 64Sound to begin the album's initial sessions in late 2019, they had no idea what they were walking into—and not just because of their guitars.
Low Pressure and Loose Jams
My Morning Jacket went on hiatus after wrapping up their tour in support of 2015's The Waterfall. After reconvening for four shows in summer 2019—including two epic nights at Colorado's Red Rocks Amphitheater—they decided to head back into the studio that fall to feel things out.
"We didn't really know what the future of the band held, so we just wanted to come in and play together." —Jim James
"That session was interesting because we didn't know if we were going to make a record or not," says James, who also fronts the band. "We didn't really know what the future of the band held, so we just wanted to come in and play together." That set the tone for the sessions and the way the band approached them. "We came in with low expectations and low pressure and started knocking around ideas in an almost jazz-like way, where you just play the idea around and around and let it speak. It turned out we started doing song after song after song. It just flowed naturally."
The jams from those sessions plus another round in March 2020 form the nucleus of My Morning Jacket. Many of the songs were cobbled together from multiple takes, which meant some have detectable tempo changes and even include instrument changes mid-solo. That lends a feeling of raw energy to the album. "I don't really care if they're not exact," James says about the hazards of compiling various takes. "If it feels good, I don't mind that stuff."
Carl Broemel and Jim James, live and in color, doin' the double guitar thing they're known for. "We work together really harmoniously," says James.
Photo by Joshua Brasted
This loose approach also created the ideal conditions for some inadvertent dueling leads, like during the climax of "In Color." "It is very open-ended in terms of who's going to do what," Broemel says. "It's almost to the point where it's like, 'Why doesn't everyone just go for it?' Similar to a New Orleans band where it's like a fanfare and everyone is playing. We haven't perfected that, but that is our idea."
Papa’s Got a Brand New Gibson
The sessions for My Morning Jacket were done with limited gear, since James insisted everyone bring only essentials. For Broemel, that meant the Silvertone U1, two Les Pauls, and two Duesenbergs, and for James, it was the plywood Tele, one acoustic, and a prototype Gibson Jim James ES-335.
Jim James' Gear
Jim James poses with his new Gibson ES-335 and one of his favorite guitar tools—his trusty capo. His signature model spots a thin neck profile that, in part, provides relief for his carpal tunnel syndrome.
Photo by Ken Settle
Guitars
- Gibson Jim James ES-335
- Reuben Cox Custom Plywood T-Style
- Chris Fleming-Designed Fender Strat
- Scott Baxendale Custom "Jimmy"
- Gibson ES-335
- Gibson Barney Kessel
- Gibson Hummingbird
- Gibson J-45
Strings & Picks
- D'Addario Nickel Wound (.009–.042)
- D'Addario Phosphor Bronze Acoustic Extra Light (.010–.047)
- Dunlop .88 mm
Effects
- Devi Ever USA Fuzz Monster
- Boss Waza Craft BD-2W Blues Driver
- Boss OC-2 Octave
- Electro-Harmonix POG
- Malekko Spring Chicken Reverb
- EarthQuaker Devices Ghost Echo
- Universal Audio Golden Reverberator
- Universal Audio Astra Modulation Machine
- Universal Audio Starlight Echo Station
- Spaceman Orion
- SoloDallas The Schaffer Boost
Amps
- 3 Monkeys Orangutan
- 3 Monkeys cab
- Mesa/Boogie cab
James' new signature model is the result of a collaboration that took place over about five years. The guitarist explains that his goal was to create a guitar that didn't have fancy appointments—to make something that seemed "almost invisible," as if it were a part of the Gibson line for decades. To accomplish this, James chose to outfit his signature model with a '70s walnut finish, calibrated T-Type humbuckers, and Kluson Waffleback tuners. "I hope people who like me or like my music like the guitar," he shares. "I like the thought of somebody just seeing it in a guitar store and going, 'Whoa, that's really beautiful.' I wanted it to feel like a classic instrument that doesn't have a bunch of weird things on it. I think we've created a classic feeling instrument that plays really well. I've been playing it on these tour dates and I really love it."
One difference that players will find unique about the Jim James ES-335 is its slim neck profile. "I wanted it to have a thin neck, because I've got pretty bad carpal tunnel," he reveals. "During shows, my hands would go completely numb. They would turn into hamburger, and by the end of a tough song, I didn't know if I was going to make it through the next song."
"I like having an amp in a closet, and when you open the closet, it's hot and it smells like wax or whatever toxic shit is in these old amps." —Carl Broemel
Opting for a slim neck is just one of the ways James has adapted his rig to his carpal tunnel issues. He's also switched to lighter string gauges. "It's helped a lot," he says. "I broke strings a lot in the old days. Before I had a guitar tech, I had to use .011s so I would make it through the show. I went down to .010s for a long time. This tour, we went down to .009s, and it's been incredible—the ease of playing. I went to extra-light gauge on the acoustic, too. I also try to limber up and do stretches. I hope I don't have to have surgery. And I have braces I wear when I sleep."
Captains of the Capo
James often plays with a capo, which helps him reimagine the fretboard. He's a visual player who thinks in terms of shapes. In that regard, the capo is a powerful tool that enables him to find new sounds from familiar fingerings. But more than that, his visualizations impact the way he interprets a song.
Carl Broemel's Gear
Carl Broemel wields his Bigsby-equipped '88 Les Paul Standard.
Photo by Ken Settle
Guitars
- 1988 Gibson Les Paul Standard with Bigsby
- Gibson Les Paul Junior
- Duesenberg Starplayer TV
- Duesenberg Caribou
- Silvertone U1
- GFI Ultra Pedal Steel
- Scott Baxendale Conversion Harmony Roy Smeck Model
Strings & Picks
- D'Addario Nickel Wound (.011–.049)
- Dunlop .73 mm
Amps
- 1967 Fender Princeton Reverb
- 1950s Fender Tweed Deluxe
- 1968 Fender Vibrolux
Effects
- Hudson Electronics Blackbird octave fuzz
- Hudson Electronics Sidecar overdrive
- Keeley Tone Workstation
- Fulltone Tube Tape Echo
- Empress Tape Delay
- Moog MF Delay
- EBow
"I think in terms of shapes and colors," he says, "and each fret represents a different color. When I put a capo on a different fret, it makes the song a different color for me. No capo, or open, I see as a white or clear color. First [fret] capo is yellow. Second capo is blue. Third capo is red. Fourth capo is orange. Fifth capo is purple. Sixth capo is pink. And I think that's as high as I got."
For Broemel, using a capo helps him take advantage of some of the instrument's characteristics—like open strings, unisons, and harmonics—especially in keys not generally considered open-string "guitar keys."
Rig Rundown - My Morning Jacket's Carl Broemel
Article and photos: https://bit.ly/MMJBroemelRRPremier Guitar’s Perry Bean met with Carl Broemel when My Morning Jacket stopped in Nashville on their summer t..."Our song 'Circuital,' for example, is in Bb," he says about the title track of their 2011 release. "You get no benefit from a standard-tuned guitar when the song is in Bb—you get nothing open. But that's what's so good about the guitar. You have all these bonus things that are special about the instrument. You have access to two or three versions of the same note. I like to use unisons, an open string with a fretted note, or an open string with a harmony, and play with that—play high on the neck but also use an open string. That stuff is interesting to me about the guitar. It has limitations, which I like, and if you use a capo, you can scoot those limitations to whatever key you want."
The Path of Least Resistance
When it comes to capturing their sounds, it's no surprise that Broemel preaches his love for old-school tones. "I like having an amp in a closet, and when you open the closet, it's hot and it smells like wax or whatever toxic shit is in these old amps," he says. "That's what I want. I need that. You pick up an acoustic guitar and it is this beautiful thing and it smells like wood." This provides Broemel with a more-visceral sonic experience. He adds, "I always feel like I need the sensation of touching the music. It's been hard with digital. When you were working with analog all the time, it really felt like every sound had a tactile feel. I am over that, but as far as guitar sounds, you've got to have a speaker. You have to have an amp. Maybe the tube is a little wonky. Maybe the fuzz pedal you found in a dusty box isn't working right, but it's the best."
"There are no rules or distinctions between who's doing lead or who's doing rhythm. It's like we both float in and out of all the different spaces." —Jim James
James and Broemel are no purists, and both embrace digital gear when it helps get the job done. Broemel concedes that, sometimes, it's just a more reliable method. "I took my Fulltone [Tube] Tape Echoes on the road for a while," he says. "But there was one Bonnaroo we were playing, and I pulled the top off and the tape had melted. It was too hot, and there was dust and moisture in the air. You can do it, but if you want your tape echo to work the entire show, maybe it has to live in an air-conditioned box." Broemel uses a tape-free Empress Tape Delay on tour these days.
When it comes to the band's gear, how they record, or how they divvy up their parts as a two-guitar outfit, My Morning Jacket embraces the path of least resistance and keep things loose and natural. It just seems to work. And keeps working. "It's pretty organic," James says. "Sometimes I'll have a thing that'll need to happen and I'll ask Carl to do a certain thing. But a lot of times we'll just play and let it speak. We work together really harmoniously. There are no rules or distinctions between who's doing lead or who's doing rhythm. It's like we both float in and out of all the different spaces. We have our own way of doing things."
My Morning Jacket – Regularly Scheduled Programming
- Rig Rundown: My Morning Jacket's Carl Broemel - Premier Guitar ›
- Gibson and Jim James Unveil New Signature ES-335 - Premier Guitar ›
- Stomp Stations of the Stars - Premier Guitar ›
- My Morning Jacket and Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats Joint Tour Announcement ›
Day 6 of Stompboxtober is here! Today’s prize? A pedal from Revv Amplification! Enter now and check back tomorrow for the next one!
Revv G3 Purple Channel Preamp/Overdrive/Distortion Pedal - Anniversary Edition
The Revv G3 revolutionized high gain pedals in 2018 with its tube-like response & tight, clear high gain tones. Suddenly the same boutique tones used by metal artists & producers worldwide were available to anyone in a compact pedal. Now the G3 returns with a new V2 circuit revision that raises the bar again.
A twist on the hard-to-find Ibanez MT10 that captures the low-gain responsiveness of the original and adds a dollop of more aggressive sounds too.
Excellent alternative to pricey, hard-to-find, vintage Mostortions. Flexible EQ. Great headroom. Silky low-gain sounds.
None.
$199
Wampler Mofetta
wamplerpedals.com
Wampler’s new Mofetta is a riff on Ibanez’s MT10 Mostortion, a long-ago discontinued pedal that’s now an in-demand cult classic. If you look at online listings for the MT10, you’ll see that asking prices have climbed up to $1k in extreme cases.
It would have been easy for Wampler to simply make a Mostortion clone and call it a day, but they added some unique twists to the Mofetta pedal. While the original Mostortion had a MOSFET-based op amp, it actually used clipping diodes to create its overdrive. The Mofetta is a fairly accurate replica and includes that circuitry, but also has a toggle switch for texture, which lets you choose between the original-style diode-based clipping in the down position and multi-cascaded MOSFET gain stages in the up position.
Luscious Low Gain and Meaty Mid-Gain
The Mofetta’s control panel is very straightforward and conventional with knobs for bass, mids, treble, level, and gain. The original Mostortion was revered for its low-gain tone and is now popular among Nashville session guitarists. Wampler’s tribute captures that edge-of-breakup vibe perfectly. I enjoyed using the pedal with the gain on the lower side, around 9 o’clock, where I heard and felt slight compression that gave single notes a smooth and silky feel. I particularly enjoyed the tone-thickening the Mofetta lent to my Ernie Ball Music Man Axis Sport’s split-coil sound as I played pop melodies and rootsy, triadic rhythm guitar figures. The Mofetta has expansive headroom, and as a result there’s a lot of space in which you can find really bold, cutting tones without muddying the waters too much. Even turning the gain all the way off yields a pleasing volume bump that would work well in a clean boost setting.
There’s a lot of space in which you can find really bold, cutting tones without muddying the waters too much.
Switching the texture switch up engages the MOSFET section, introducing cascading gain stages that elevate the heat and add flavor the original Mostortion didn’t really offer. Classic rock and early metal are readily available via the MOSFET setting. If you need to stretch out to modern metal sounds, the Mofetta probably isn’t the pedal for you. Again, the original Mostortion was, first and foremost, a low-to-mid-gain affair, so unless you’re using it as a boost with a high-gain amp, the Mofetta is not really a vehicle for extreme sounds.
One of the Mofetta’s real treats is its responsiveness. Even at higher gain settings the Mofetta is very touch sensitive. You can tap into a wide range of dynamic shading just by varying the strength of your pick attack. I enjoyed playing fast, ascending scalar passages, picking with a medium attack then really slamming it hard when I hit a high climactic note, to get the guitar to really scream.
The Verdict
Wampler is a reliably great builder who creates pedals with a purpose. I own two of his pedals, the Dual Fusion and the Pinnacle, and both are really exceptional units. The Mofetta captures the essence of the Mostortion and makes it available at an accessible price. But even if you’ve never heard or played an original Mostortion, you’ll appreciate the truly versatile EQ, touch sensitivity, and the bonus texture switch, which expands the Mofetta’s range into more aggressive spaces. The wealth of dirt boxes on the market today can make a player jaded. But Wampler pushed into a relatively unique, satisfying, and interesting place with the Mofetta.
Although inspired by the classic Fuzz Face, this stomp brings more to the hair-growth game with wide-ranging bias and low-cut controls.
One-ups the Fuzz Face in tonal versatility and pure, sustained filth, with the ability to preserve most of the natural sonic thumbprint of your guitar or take your tone to lower, delightfully nasty places.
Pushing the bias hard can create compromising note decay. Difficult to control at extreme settings.
$144
Catalinbread StarCrash
catalinbread.com
Filthy, saturated fuzz is a glorious thing, whether it’s the writ-large solos of Big Brother and the Holding Company’s live “Ball and Chain,” the soaring feedback and pure crush of Jimi Hendrix’s “Foxy Lady,” or the sandblasted rhythm textures of Queens of the Stone Age’s “Paper Machete.” It’s also a Wayback Machine. Step on a fuzz pedal and your tone is transported to the ’60s or early ’70s, which, when it comes to classic guitar sounds, is not a bad place to be.
Catalinbread’s StarCrash is from their new ’70s collection, so the company is laying its Six Million Dollar Man trading cards on the table—upping the ante on traditional fuzz with more controls and, according to the company’s website, a little more volume than the average fuzz pedal, while still staying in the traditional Fuzz Face lane.
The Howler’s Viscera
Arbiter Electronics made the first Fuzz Face in 1966. The StarCrash is inspired by that 2-transistor pedal, but benefits from evolution, as did almost all fuzz pedals in the ’70s, when the standard shifted from germanium to silicon circuitry to improve the consistency of the effect’s performance. The downside is that germanium is gnarlier to some ears, and silicon transistors don’t respond as well to adjustments made via a guitar’s volume control.
While Fuzz Faces have only two knobs, volume and fuzz, the silicon StarCrash has three: volume, bias, and low-cut. Catalinbread’s website explains: “We got rid of that goofy fuzz knob. We know that 95 percent of all players run it dimed, and the remaining 5 percent use their guitar’s volume knob to rein it in.”
I suspect there are plenty of players who, like me, do adjust the fuzz control on their pedals, but the most important thing is that the core fuzz sound here is excellent—bristly and snarling, with a far girthier tone than my reissue Fuzz Face. It’s also, with the bias and low-cut controls, far more flexible. The low-cut control allows you to range from a traditional, comparatively thinner Fuzz Face sound (past noon and further) to the StarCrash’s authentic, beefier voice (noon and lower). Essentially, it cuts bass frequencies from 40 Hz to 500 Hz, resulting in an aural menu that runs from lush and lowdown to buzzy and slicing. And the bias control is a direct route to the spitty, fragmented, so-called Velcro-sound that’s become a staple of the stoner-rock/Jack White school of tone. The company calls this dial a “dying battery simulator,” and it starves the second transistor to achieve that effect.
Sweet Song of the Tribbles
Playing with the StarCrash is a lot of fun. I ran it through a pair of Carr amps in stereo, adding some delay and reverb to mood, and used a variety of single-coil- and humbucker-outfitted guitars. While both pickup types interacted well with the pedal, the humbuckers were most pleasing to my ears with the bias cranked to about 2 o’clock or higher, since the ’buckers higher output allowed me to let notes sustain longer before sputtering out. Keeping the low-cut filter at 9 o’clock or lower also helped sustain and depth in the Velcro-fuzz zone, while letting more of the instruments’ natural voices come through, of course.
With the low-cut filter turned up full and the bias at 10 o’clock, I got the StarCrash to be the perfect doppelganger of my Hendrix reissue Fuzz Face. But that’s such a small part of the pedal’s overall tone profile. It was more fun to roll off just a bit of bass and set the bias knob to about 2 or 3 o’clock. Around these settings, the sound is huge and grinding, and yet barre chords hold their character while playing rhythm, and single-note runs, especially on the low strings, are a filthy delight, with just the right schmear of buttery sustain plus a hint of decay lurking behind every note. It’s such a ripe tone—the sonic equivalent of a delicious, stinky cheese—that I could hang with it all day.
Regarding Catalinbread’s claims about the volume control? Yes, it gets very loud without losing the essence of the notes or chords you’re playing, or the character of the fuzz, which is a distinct advantage when you’re in a band and need to stand out. And it’s a tad louder than my Fuzz Face but doesn’t really bark up to the level of most Tone Bender or Buzzaround clones I’ve heard. In my experience, these germanium-chipped critters of similar vintage can practically slam you through the wall when their volume levels are cranked.
The Verdict
Catalinbread’s StarCrash—with its sturdy enclosure, smooth on/off switch and easy-to-manipulate dials—can compete with any Fuzz Face variant in both price and performance, scoring high points on the latter count. The bias and low-cut dials provide access to a wider-than-usual variety of fuzz tones, and are especially delightful for long, playful solos dappled with gristle, flutter, and sustain. Kudos to Catalinbread for making this pedal not just a reflection of the past, but an improvement on it.
Catalinbread Starcrash 70 Fuzz Pedal - Starcrash 70 Collection
StarCrash 70 Fuzz PedalIntrepid knob-tweakers can blend between ring mod and frequency shifting and shoot for the stars.
Unique, bold, and daring sounds great for guitarists and producers. For how complex it is, it’s easy to find your way around.
Players who don’t have the time to invest might find the scope of this pedal intimidating.
$349
Red Panda Radius
redpandalab.com
The release of a newRed Panda pedal is something to be celebrated. Each of the company’s devices lets us crack into our signal chains and tweak its inner properties in unique, forward-thinking ways, encouraging us to be daring, create something new, and think about sound differently. In essence, they take us to the sonic frontier, where the most intrepid among us seek thrills.
Last January, I got my first glimpse of the Radius at NAMM and knew that Red Panda mastermind Curt Malouin had, once again, concocted something fresh. The pedal offers ring modulation and frequency shifting with pitch tracking and an LFO, and I heard classic ring-mod tones as the jumping off point for oodles of bold sounds generated by envelope and waveform-controlled modulation and interaction. I had to get my hands on one.
Enjoy the Process
I’ve heard some musicians talk about how the functionality of Red Panda’s pedals are deep to a point that they can be hard to follow. If that’s the case, it’s by design, simply because each Red Panda device opens access to an untrodden path. As such, it can feel heady to get into the details of the Radius, which blends between ring modulation and frequency shifting, offering control of the balance and shift ratios of the upper and lower sidebands to create effects including phasing, tremolo, and far less-natural sounds.
As complex as that all might seem, Red Panda’s pedals always make it easy to strip the controls down to their most essential form. The firmest ground for a guitarist to stand with the Radius is a simple ring-mod sound. To get that, I selected the ring mod function, turned off the modulation section by zeroing the rate and amount knobs, kept the shift switch off and the range switch on its lowest setting. With the mix at noon and the frequency knob cranked, I found my sound.
From there, by lowering the frequency range, the Radius will yield percussive tremolo tones, and the track knob helped me dial that in before opening up a host of phaser sounds below noon. By going the other direction and kicking the rate switch into its higher setting, a world of ring-mod tweaking opens up. There are some uniquely warped effects in these higher settings that include dial-up modem sounds and lo-fi dial tones. Exploring the ring mod/frequency shift knob widens the possibilities further to high-pitched, filtered white noise and glitchy digital artifacts at its extremes.
There are wild, active sounds within each knob movement on the Radius, and the modulation section naturally brings those to life in more ways than a simple knob tweak ever could, delivering four LFO waveforms, a step modulator, two x-mod waveforms, and an envelope follower. It’s within these settings that I found rayguns, sirens, Shepard tones, and futuristic sounds that were even harder to describe.
It’s easy to imagine the Radius at the forefront of sonic experiments, where it would be right at home. But this pedal could easily be a studio device when applied in low doses to give a track something special that pops. The possible applications go way beyond guitars.
The Verdict
The Radius isn’t easy to plug and play, but it’s also not hard to use if you keep an open mind. That’s necessary, too: The Radius is not for guitar players who prefer to stay grounded; this pedal is for sonic-stargazers and producers.
I enjoyed pairing the Radius with various guitar instruments—12-string, baritone, bass—and it kept getting me more and more excited about sonic experimentation. That feeling is a big part of what’s special about this pedal. It’s so open-ended and controllable, continuing to reveal more of its capabilities with use. Once you feel like you’ve gotten something down, there are often more sounds to explore, whether that’s putting a new instrument or pedal next to it or exploring the Radius’ stereo, MIDI, or expression-pedal functionality. Like many great instruments, it only takes a few minutes to get started, but it could keep you exploring for years.