
Rocco DeLuca says his favorite instrument is his baritone lap steel, but he frequently plays 12-string pedal steel as well. He says that, while it lacks the bottom end of the baritone, he can "achieve a lot of the same things, but it'll give me other colors or textures that I like and want to explore."
Hopping between 6-string, baritone lap steel, and pedal steel, the SoCal guitarist has collaborated with the legendary producer on everything from cosmic guitar soundscapes to the dub-infused gospel of the new Heavy Sun.
Rocco DeLuca has learned to hear the complexity within simple musical gestures. "An orchestra tuning up at the beginning [of a concert] … that's the most exciting part for me," he says, deep into our conversation. "How's it gonna get better than that? Everybody's reaching for the note, right? It's exotic because they've abandoned the Western philosophy when they're tuning up and they're pulling everything. There's all this microtonal information. Things are rubbing and harmonizing all over the place, there's a billion worlds, and then they're gone as they achieve it."
This serves as a good introduction to DeLuca's musical philosophy. Whether he's playing guitar, lap steel, or pedal steel, he gravitates toward what often seem like simple harmonic, melodic, and rhythmic choices. But if you listen attentively, his ideas carry considerable depth, as if there is a journey informing everything he plays.
Like any lifelong artist, DeLuca's path has been a winding one. His father was a guitarist who worked with Bo Diddley, and Rocco was drawn to pick up the guitar at a young age. Early in his career, he performed opening slots for masters such as Taj Mahal and John Lee Hooker. In the mid-2000s, he was working as a bluesy alt-rock singer/songwriter in the tradition of the late Jeff Buckley when Kiefer Sutherland signed DeLuca to his Ironworks label for his 2006 debut, I Trust You to Kill Me. Since then, he has handled quite a bit of soundtrack work for films and TV, and even made a guest appearance on Slash's 2010 solo debut.
We got into a thing and I thought, 'That's the sound I'm looking for right there. I want this all the time and I never want to hear anything but this.'" —Rocco DeLuca
DeLuca's discography tracks his progress into a nuanced singer-songwriter, culminating in his most recent solo album, the ruminative and atmospheric Live Off the Floor, from 2018. But his longtime collaboration with Daniel Lanois deserves special attention. The legendary producer/guitarist/songwriter is, like DeLuca, a bit of a seeker. He has a knack for uncovering musical truths, whether in the form of standout recordings by artists such as Bob Dylan, Emmylou Harris, Willie Nelson, and Neil Young, or albums under his own name. He must have heard something special the night he first heard DeLuca play.
"I had just come back from a four-year tour," DeLuca says. "On the day I arrived home, my friend over at [former L.A. club] Spaceland called me and said, 'A band just canceled, will you come play the set for me tonight?' I went down there and I was in good form, and Dan was right there in the front, singing harmony the whole time. Every song."
Soon, Lanois was handling production duties on DeLuca's 2009 album, Mercy, setting the stage for their long and fruitful creative partnership. In Lanois, DeLuca found someone who could push him and help him develop his sound; in DeLuca, Lanois found a simpatico musical foil who would help bring some of his own ambitious projects to life. "Rocco Deluca has the magic fingers, one of the best fingerpickers I've ever played with," Lanois says. "Rocco's dynamic range on the slide guitar can swing from delicate to dark metal. I love it!"
TIDBIT: When Rocco DeLuca, Daniel Lanois, and bassist Jim Wilson started working with Johnny Shepherd, they focused on singing four-part harmony around Shepherd's Hammond organ long before picking up their guitars.
And yet, DeLuca's musical personality is recognizable across his range of instruments, whether he's playing his 1976 Les Paul Custom, or his Sho-Bud or Franklin pedal steels, and whether he's amplifying his sound with his go-to 1948 Fender Pro or his Pignose. One instrument that sets him apart is his 8-string baritone lap steel, custom-made by California–based luthier Pavel Maslowiec. "He built me one of the most beautiful baritone steels I've ever heard in my life," DeLuca exclaims. "It's all out of mahogany and it's all business. A simple piece of wood. We went down to Santa Barbara and Seymour Duncan wrapped me a badass humbucker. It's the best tone I've ever heard of any kind, without a doubt."
It doesn't just sound great, it has a hidden superpower as well. DeLuca tells us that Maslowiec "put a magnet inside of there that I can kick in to hold one string like a theremin. So, if I'm playing and we're getting to that place and I don't want to get louder but I want to get more melodic and more defined, I kick this in and I can play these beautiful chords and it will hold my melody line through the whole thing. It's one of the coolest things."
DeLuca realized the power of this instrument when Lanois took him on a European tour where he performed a solo opening set on the baritone lap steel. "I was really excited to play that instrument by itself so it could be truly heard," he says. "We were going to Europe and playing these beautiful theaters, and I got the chance to really hear that thing sing. When I would play a theater, it was amazing how much sound and dynamic and dimension is in that instrument."
Rocco DeLuca's Gear
"The best tone I've ever heard," says DeLuca of his 8-string Pavel Maslowiec–built mahogany lap steel, which includes a handwound Seymour Duncan humbucker.
Photo by Simon Reed
Guitars
- 1976 Gibson Les Paul Custom
- Pavel Maslowiec Baritone Lap Steel
- 1970 Sho-Bud 12-String Pedal Steel
- 1980s Franklin 12-String Pedal Steel
Amps
- 1948 Fender Pro
- 1959 Fender Princeton
- Pignose
Effects
- Roland RE-201 Space Echo
Strings, Picks, and Slides
- Dunlop Herco Flex 52 Thumbpick
- Dunlop metal fingerpicks (for steel)
- Ernie Ball or SIT .11 sets with wound 3rd string
- SIT Buddy Emmons Signature Pedal Steel Strings (.012–.015–.011–.014–.018–.022–.026–.030–.034–.038–.042–.054)
- SIT Lap Steel (.015–.016–.017–.026–.038–.054–.060–.074)
- Dunlop Stainless Steel Tonebar (steel)
- Homemade cut wine bottle necks (guitar)
Lanois took notice, and on one fateful night jumped onstage to join DeLuca on pedal steel. The way DeLuca tells it, this was a transformative moment from which there was no return. "We got into a thing and I thought, 'That's the sound I'm looking for, right there. I want this all the time and I never want to hear anything but this.' I annoyed everybody in my life. They'd go, 'Aren't you going to sing? Aren't you going to write a song?' And I'd go, 'Do you hear this? This doesn't turn you on?'"
In 2016, the two released Goodbye to Language, a meditative album of two steel guitars following each other amidst a warm ambient sonic landscape that sounds both ethereal and completely organic. "My job was to support his movement. I thought it was beautiful to do that," he enthuses. "It was one of the best experiences of my life. Once we got our thing together, even moving to a chord, like an orchestra finding that moment, we would both be bending in different directions and land in the same spot. That's the genius, to me, of the album, because that's happening at all times. It's never not trying to find itself."
Daniel Lanois onstage with DeLuca in London, around the time they started performing as a duo. The would go on to release the ethereal Goodbye to Language in 2016.
Photo by Simon Reed
DeLuca and Lanois' most recent collaboration is Heavy Sun—released under Lanois' name—which is centered around organist and vocalist Johnny Shepherd, who was the house organist at the Zion Baptist Church in Shreveport, Louisiana. The two guitarists met Shepherd while working together on a modern gospel/Americana live project called The Hallelujah Train, which featured members of the church with a cast of all-star musicians.
"I got to sit next to Johnny [during The Hallelujah Train], and I just fell in love with him. I was hearing everything I love about music in one person, as far as his beautiful voicings, both with his voice and with his organ, and how quickly he can change sounds and colors," says DeLuca. After the project was finished, DeLuca invited Shepherd to Los Angeles and Lanois got involved. DeLuca continues, "I had just helped writing the Rockstar stuff with him [the soundtrack for the Red Dead Redemption II video game]—a song called 'That's the Way It Is,' and the chant for 'Unshaken,' which Dan and D'Angelo fleshed out to become the full version. We were riding high on that, and Dan was like, 'Let's do a record together,' so it got even bigger than what I thought we were going to do."
Shepherd moved to Los Angeles, where they kicked off several years of learning, writing, and recording together, along with bassist Jim Wilson. They focused on their voices as they collaborated to compose material that mixed Shepherd's background in the church with secular songwriting. "We began singing every day around the organ, around Johnny, and it became one of the most beautiful things I'd ever done," says DeLuca. "I had never been that dedicated to singing in four-part harmony every day for that long. After a while, it got very special and it helped me become a better guitar player. I felt like I was learning a lot of really valuable, ancient stuff."
Lap steel, standard round-neck guitar, pedal steel, and harmonica are all within DeLuca's grasp. His recent release, Live Off the Floor, shows what he can do alone with a stash of instruments.
Photo by Robbie Jeffers
After about two years of singing together around the organ, the rest of the band decided to join DeLuca at a residency he was performing at a Los Angeles club, Zebulon. Their guitars started to play a greater role as they brought the songs to a live audience, though they now approached their instruments—DeLuca and Lanois both on their Les Pauls—informed by their vocal practice. DeLuca says, "There was never a need in life to fish for any notes ever again, to try to invent something, because it's all in the voicings of the chord, everything we need. Everything I was looking for, at least. It's in the changes, and you pick the voice you want to use, or the many voices you want to use on a string instrument."
By the time Heavy Sun was complete, the musicians had spent around three years developing the material and bringing it to life. The result is a powerful and moving album that rewards careful listening. The songs feel timeless and the performances resonate amongst Lanois' dub-infused production. It's hard not to be inspired by Shepherd's singing and warm charisma as well as the focus and care taken by Lanois, DeLuca, and their collaborators—namely Wilson and engineer Wayne Lorenz—to nurture the creative process.
With Heavy Sun released, DeLuca joins Shepherd every week on his 12-string pedal steel at the New Revelation Baptist Church in Pasadena, California, where the organist leads services. They've released a single of the meditative, soulful ballad "Liberation," and are finishing up a new collaborative album called Mighty Glad. DeLuca says the process of working with Shepherd has helped him to better serve the music he plays. "Once you serve something, then you have a purpose or an intention, and it's not accidental playing. You can be spontaneous and creative, all those things, but you're not playing accidentally," he explains. "When a player plays like that, their whole thing changes—their dynamics change, pitch changes—and if you isolate them after they've served something and you've pulled out the ingredients, you'd have probably their best playing."
ZEBULON SESSIONS /// ROCCO DELUCA /// MAY 29 2020
Filmed live in Zebulon, the same L.A. club where the Heavy Sun group performed their residency, this video shows Rocco DeLuca delivering late-night desert vibes on his pedal steel, Les Paul Custom, and Pavel Maslowiec– built 8-string baritone lap steel.
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This wonky Zim-Gar was one of many guitars sold by importer Gar-Zim Musical Instruments, operated by Larry Zimmerman and his wife.
The 1960s were strange days indeed for import guitars, like this cleaver-friendly Zim-Gar electric.
Recently I started sharing my work office with a true gem of a guy … one of the nicest fellas I’ve ever come across. If you’ve been following my column here, you might remember my other work mate Dylan, who is always telling me about new, fad-type things (like hot Honey guitars) and trying to convince me to use AI more. (What can I say, he’s a millennial.) But Steve, on the other hand, is about 10 years my senior and is a native New Yorker—Brooklyn actually, from the Canarsie neighborhood. Steve is a retired teacher and spent many years teaching in the Brownsville area of Brooklyn, and man, he has some amazing stories.
Mostly we talk about music and sports (he’s exiled here among us Philadelphia sports fans) and he’s just endlessly interesting to me. He has a huge appetite and can eat a whole pizza. When he talks, he sounds like one of the Ramones and he still has an apartment in Rockaway Beach. We both love Seinfeld and, like George Costanza, Steve knows where all the great bathrooms are across New York City. Since he’s been added to my circle (and is such a mensch), I decided I should work him into a column.
So here’s the connection: Back in the day there were many American importers, dealers, and wholesalers. A lot of them were based in New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles, but I only know of one guitar importer located in Brooklyn: Gar-Zim Musical Instruments. The company was run by Larry Zimmerman and his wife, and the couple had some success importing and selling Japanese guitars and drums. I used to see early Teisco imports with the Zim-Gar badge, which was the brand name of Gar-Zim. I’ve also seen Kawai guitars with the Zim-Gar label, but the Zimmerman’s seemed to sell cheaper and cheaper gear as the ’60s wore on, including the piece you see here.
“This build reminds me of the cutting boards I used to make in wood shop back in my high school days.”
The model name and factory origin of this guitar is a mystery to me, but this build reminds me of the cutting boards I used to make in wood shop back in my high school days. The guitar is just flat across the top and back, with absolutely no contouring or shaping. Its offset body is plywood with a thin veneer on the top and back. From a distance this guitar actually looks kind of nice, but up close you can see a rather crude and clunky instrument that offers little flexibility and playability. The non-adjustable bridge is off center, as is the tremolo. It was really hard to get this guitar playing well, but in the end it was worth it, because the pickups were the saving grace. Another example of gold-foils, these units sound strong and raw. The electronics consist of an on/off switch for each pickup and a volume and tone knob. The tuners are okay, and the headstock design is reminiscent of the Kay “dragon snout” shape of the mid to late ’60s, which is where I would place the birthdate of this one, probably circa 1966. Everything is just so goofy about this build—even the upper strap button is located on the back of the neck. It reminds me of that era when simple wood factories that were making furniture were tasked with building electric guitars, and they simply didn’t know what they were doing. So, you get oddities like this one.
Gar-Zim continued to sell guitars and other musical instruments through the 1970s and possibly into the ’80s. I once even saw a guitar with the label Lim-Gar, which is totally puzzling. I think there should’ve been a Stee-Gar designation for my new buddy Steve-o! Yes, good readers, with guitars and me, there are always just a few degrees of separation.
Dive into the ART Tube MP/C with PG contributor Tom Butwin. Experience how this classic tube-driven preamp and compressor can add warmth and clarity to your sound. From studio recordings to re-amping and live stage applications, this time-tested design packs a ton of features for an affordable price.
Art Tube Mp Project Series Tube Microphone/Instrument Preamp
Designed in Rochester NY and originally released in 1995, the Tube MP is celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2025.
The Tube MP/C is the most fully-featured member of the Tube MP family, designed for recording guitarists and bassists. It is a tube mic preamp and instrument DI with advanced features including an optical compressor/limiter and switchable line/instrument output levels for use as a re-amping device.
The Oceans Abyss expands on Electro-Harmonix’s highly acclaimed reverb technology to deliver a truly immersive effects workstation. The pedal is centered around dual reverb engines that are independently programmable with full-stereo algorithms including Hall, Spring, Shimmer and more. Place these reverbs into a customizable signal path with additional FX blocks like Delay, Chorus, Tremolo, or Bit Crusher for a completely unique soundscape building experience.
Electro-Harmonix has paved the way for powerful, accessible reverbs since the release of the original Holy Grail and now we’ve pushed the envelope deeper with the fully-equipped Oceans Abyss. Featuring a customizable signal path with up to 8 effects blocks, the Oceans Abyss can be configured as individual reverb, modulation, EQ, delay, bit crusher, saturation or volume effects, or as countless combinations for incredibly creative effect shaping. From a simple Spring reverb to a lush stereo field featuring stereo hall and shimmer reverbs, chorus, delay, overdrive, and tremolo, you can go from surf to shoegaze instantly, without breaking a sweat.
Deep parameter editing is accessible via the high-visibility OLED display with multiple graphical views and easy-to-read designs. Expression/CV control over nearly every parameter gives artful control of your effects and dynamics. Fully-stereo I/O plus an FX Loop allows for use with any instrument, recording set up, or live rig. 128 programmable presets via onboard footswitching or MIDI ensure perfect recall in all performance situations. MIDI IN/OUT ports with MIDI IN support of PC, CC, and Tempo Clock expand the already immense talents of the Oceans Abyss. Connect with UBS-C to Windows or Mac for effects editing, preset management, and more with the free EHXport™ app (coming soon).
- Two Stereo Reverbs available at once, each fully pannable in the stereo field
- 10 reverb types to choose from: Room, Hall, Spring, Plate, Reverse, Dynamic, Auto-Infinite, Shimmer, Polyphonic, Resonant
- Additional FX blocks: Delay (Digital, Analog and Tape emulations), Tremolo, Chorus, Flanger, Phaser, Graphic EQ, Saturation, Bit Crusher, External FX Loop, Volume
- Create custom signal path routing with up to 8 effects blocks. Two blocks may be re-verb, the rest may be any of the additional FX blocks.
- Infinite reverb sustain with the press of a footswitch
- Stereo Audio I/O
- Stereo FX Loop routing on TRS Jacks
- Dual action footswitches allow for momentary or latching use
- Easily enable or disable tails
- 128 fully customizable presets
- All controls can be saved to presets
- Dive deep into global and preset settings to set up Oceans Abyss for your specific needs
- Illuminated slide pots and buttons
- High-visibility OLED graphical display
- Multiple graphical views: Signal Path, Performance, Settings, Physical, Explorer
- Easy-to-navigate menu system
- Ergonomic NavCoder knob allows rotary and directional navigation through menus
- EXPRESSION / CV input to control nearly any parameter in any FX block
- Footswitch input allows for adding up to three external footswitches, each assigna-ble to a number of functions
- MIDI In and Out. MIDI IN supports PC, CC (over nearly every available parameter), and Tempo Clock
- USB-C port to connect to Windows or Mac and interface with EHXport™ app (coming soon)
- 96kHz / 24-bit sample rate conversion
- Supplied with 9.6VDC / 500mA power supply
Our columnist’s silver-panel Fender Bandmaster.
How this longstanding, classic tube amp design evolved from its introduction in 1953.
I have a silver-panel Bandmaster Reverb that I don’t think I’ve talked about enough in this column. It’s one of the most versatile and flexible amps I own, so I use it for everything. It’s portable, has tube-driven reverb and tremolo, and has a full set of EQ knobs including the critical bright switch, which we discussed the importance of earlier this year (“How to ‘Trebleshoot’ a Vintage Fender Amp,” March 2025). The amp is not only pedal-friendly; the flexible 4-ohm output impedance will handle almost all speaker configurations and sound any way you’d like. Let’s take a deeper look at the Fender Bandmaster amp and walk through its development through the years.
The first Bandmaster was introduced in 1953 as a wide-panel tweed amp with Fender’s 5C7 circuit. This rare combo was loaded with a single 15" Jensen P15N and powered by dual 6L6GC tubes in push-pull configuration to produce a modest 25 watts. The 6L6GCs were cathode biased and along with the 5U4GB rectifier tube contributed to a forgiving sag, early breakup, and a midrange-y voice.
Fender made several changes when they launched that amp’s successor in 1955, the more widely known 5E7 narrow-panel Bandmaster, a well-proven amp that has come back as a reissue model. It was still a dual-channel amp—instrument and microphone—but the newer 5E7 model had a fixed bias and a negative feedback loop, providing a louder, firmer, and cleaner tone. Most importantly, the single 15" speaker was replaced by three 10" speakers, making it very similar to the narrow-panel tweed Bassman, the granddaddy of all Marshall amps. This Bandmaster had three speakers instead of the Bassman’s four, and it delivered 25–30 watts instead of 40. It offered early breakup with a midrange-y, big and full tone.
For those not acquainted with tweed amps, the volume and EQ knobs behave differently than on silver- and black-panel Fender amps. The volume pot can act like a distortion control, while the EQ knobs control the volume, and many players I’ve talked to have not really unlocked this secret. This works because, in these circuits, the volume pot sits right before the preamp tube, which allows it to push the tube into full distortion. Since the EQ pots are located right after and are capable of reducing the volume, you’re able to distort the preamp at low volume settings.
“Things became more standardized in 1964 with the arrival of the black-panel AB763 Bandmaster, an amp I have worked on a lot and appreciate for its robustness, simplicity, and versatility.”
In 1960, a short-lived and rare Bandmaster dressed in brown tolex and a black faceplate appeared with the 5G7 circuit. From here on, all Bandmasters had the modern top-mounted chassis. With this circuit, the Bandmaster started to both look and sound more like a black-panel amp. It kept the 3x10" speakers but got a diode rectifier and bigger transformers resulting in a 45-watt output. Tremolo was introduced for the first time, and both channels were now intended for guitar.
The following year, a blonde 6G7 Bandmaster followed as a smaller amp head paired with a 1x12 extension cabinet. It had the timeless early blonde looks with cream tolex, brown faceplate, oxblood grill cloth, large Fender logo, and white knobs. But halfway into the blonde era, towards 1964, things turned strange and rather confusing. There were suddenly two 12" speakers, black knobs, a wheat-colored grill cloth, a more slim black-panel-style Fender logo, a black faceplate, and all in various combinations close to the transition into ’64.
Things became more standardized in 1964 with the arrival of the black-panel AB763 Bandmaster, an amp I have worked on a lot and appreciate for its robustness, simplicity, and versatility. It offers a pure, clean, scooped black-panel tone that’s somewhere between a Vibrolux Reverb and Pro Reverb, which share the medium-sized 125A6A output transformer and dual 6L6GC tubes. With its medium/high power and flexible 4-ohm output impedance, it can drive all kinds of speaker cabinets—as long as you stay between 2 and 8 ohms, you are safe.
For a short time in 1967–68, there was a transitional Bandmaster with aluminum trim and black-panel innards before the all-new silver-panel Bandmaster Reverb replaced it in 1968. The small-head cabinet had grown in size and, unfortunately, weight to accommodate the reverb tank. The amp got a 5U4GB rectifier tube along with a few general silver-panel changes to the circuit. Several silver-panel models existed with minor differences until a 70-watt beast version came along in 1977 with master volume.
To my own 1968 Bandmaster Reverb, I have done a few adjustments. First, I made a custom baffle to hold two 8" speakers. I installed a pair of WGS G8C speakers that fit perfectly on the baffle board without colliding with the reverb tank or transformers. Sometimes, I use only one of the 8" speakers for bedroom volume levels. Second, I reversed the bias circuitry to standard AB763 specs, making it easier to adjust bias correctly on both power tubes. If you are into sparkling clean and funky Strat sounds, you would love this little 2x8" combo.