The Icelandic rockers roll with semi-hollows for their hard-hitting blues.
Iceland-born, Nashville-based blues rockers Kaleo released their fourth full-length LP, Mixed Emotions, on May 9 via Elektra. To celebrate the album in their adopted hometown, they threw a party at American Legion Post 82 in East Nashville.
Some of the band’s gear had already been shipped to Red Rocks Amphitheatre, where the official release show took place on May 10, but “Kentucky Fried Scandinavian” lead guitarist Rubin Pollock gave PG’s Chris Kies a look at the must-haves loaded in for the legion gig.
Pollock bought this 1967 Gibson ES-345 at Carter Vintage Guitars in Nashville, and since then, it has been his closest friend, used on all tours and recordings. He favors its out-of-phase sounds brought on by using both pickups, and though it's equipped with a Varitone knob system, Pollock almost never uses it. He hasn’t changed the strings in years.
The Kustomer is Always Right
It was almost closing time when Pollock saw this Kustom K-200 hanging on a wall in a New York City guitar shop. The shop clerk said there was no time to try it, so Pollock bought it on the spot. It has a darker tone than his 345, which he brightens with a wah pedal. Its strings haven’t been changed since he bought it.
A Fender Mustang, bought in 2016, was treated to new strings recently by Pollock’s tech. He didn’t seem stoked.
Projector Project
With his black-panel Fender Deluxe already making its way to Red Rocks, Pollock opted for this Austen Hooks-built projector amp. Hooks built him one after Pollock fell in love with another of his builds at a Los Angeles studio.
Rubin Pollock’s Pedalboard
Pollock packs light, configuring his board to fit in a shoulder bag that he can carry himself wherever he needs to go. His pedals include a Strymon El Capistan and Flint, JHS Colour Box, DigiTech Whammy Ricochet, Boss TU-3, Fulltone Octafuzz, Chase Bliss Preamp Mark II, and an Isle of Tone “Cookie Monster” fuzz.
Jökull Júlíusson’s Guitars
Jökull “J.J.” Júlíusson couldn’t make it for the Rundown, but Pollock gave us a look at his Gibson ES-330 and his signature resonator, built by English luthier Pete Turner. Behind them sits J.J.’s long-time go-to amp, his Orange AD30, which ran through an Orange 1x12 cab.
Jökull Júlíusson’s Board
Júlíusson’s board includes a Strymon Flint and El Capistan, Boss TU-3, a custom Sounds of Shelby drive pedal, Vemuram Shanks ODS-1, MXR Ten Band EQ, and Radial StageBug DI box, plus a channel switcher for the AD30.
The all-star producer invites John Bohlinger to his home studio for a glimpse of his most treasured gear.
Veteran producer and behind-the-scenes guitar superstar Dann Huff released his debut solo album, When Words Aren’t Enough, on May 30, but his career began long before that. He’s been making records and playing guitar for roughly 50 years, working with everyone from Taylor Swift to Rodney Crowell to Michael Jackson.
His home studio is where the magic happens, and for this Rig Rundown, he invited PG’s John Bohlinger over to talk about his career, his new record, and the best bits of gear he’s played along the way. Keep an eye out for our feature on Huff online and in our August print issue.
Huff had hardly played this 1964 FenderStratocaster for 20 years when he walked by it before recording his latest solo album and deciding it was time to reconnect. It was heavily modded by builder James Tyler.
The lower tone knob is also a push-pull switch to modify the pickup configurations; the middle tone knob is a mid-boost circuit, which can be toggled on or off with a push-pull function; and the volume pot is, well, just a volume pot. Huff explains the series of three switches, each assigned to one of the three pickups: “Down is louder, up is softer.”
Tyler Tone
This James Tyler Strat, built specially for Huff by Tyler, is an exacting copy of his ’64 Strat, complete with Tyler’s signature mods.
Revv Your Engine
Derek Eastveld, owner of Winnipeg, Manitoba-based amp company Revv, brought this Dynamis D40 head for Huff to try out, and it clicked instantly; Huff wrote a song on it for his solo record. It runs through a Little Walter 2x12 open-back cabinet.
Dann Huff’s Pedalboard
Huff doesn’t need a spaceship to get where he needs to go. Along with a TC Electronic PolyTune and a Lehle volume pedal, he runs a Vertex Effects Steel String (Slight Return Edition), Vertex Ultraphonix Mk II, Boss SD-2, TC Electronic Corona, Boss VB-2w, Mr. Black SuperMoon, Strymon Brigadier, and Line 6 M9 Stompbox Modeler.
It’s easy to characterize Chase Bliss' Joel Korte and “Analog” Mike Piera as pedal-designer opposites. Piera’s work is rooted in understanding what makes great vintage circuits special and building improved, refined, better-quality versions. Korte is often a maximalist (many sounds, many knobs, many possibilities) and an envelope-stretching modernist (unorthodox tones, digital control). But the two builders share much in common. Both are gifted designers, and each is tireless—perhaps obsessive—about chasing specific sounds. The intersections in their methodologies are embodied in the Brothers AM, a Chase Bliss/Analog Man collaboration based on the scarce and much-coveted Analog Man King of Tone dual-gain device.
The Brothers AM nails the creamy, clear, and agreeable essence of the KOT—at least what I know of it. Like many of you, I do not own a KOT and rely on the effusive raves from fellow musicians and what I’ve heard live and in the video sphere. But you don’t need a KOT to hear how good the Brothers AM is. It’s an excellent drive pedal by any comparison. The seamlessly integrated dual-circuit design means it moves readily from very subtle to very vicious tones. It’s even more versatile than its inspiration, thanks to the inclusion of an addictive, dynamite 2-position treble booster and DIP switches that expand the pedal’s tone palette and control options.
Rock-Solid Foundation
The original King of Tone pedal was inspired by a moddedMarshall BluesBreaker which an Analog Man client bought as a less-compressed, less-midrangey Ibanez TS9 alternative. By the time Piera completed the King of Tone, it didn’t sound much like a BluesBreaker. But it achieved other aims: It sounded natural and open and felt touch responsive. As the KOT evolved it effectively became two drive pedals in one—each of which could be configured as a boost, drive, or distortion. This KOT iteration is the foundation for the Brothers AM.
The many controls on most Chase Bliss pedals induce panic among some players. If you’re among them, Brothers AM won’t do much to calm your nerves—at least at first. In reality, though, the Brothers AM is easy to know. The six knobs are two identical sets of gain, volume, and tone controls for the two circuits. You switch each circuit between boost, OD, and distortion using two dedicated toggles on either side of the 3-position treble booster switch. The DIP switches on the pedal’s crown make it possible to add extra gain, reconfigure the footswitches for momentary bypass, repurpose volume and tone knobs as master volume and presence controls, save and switch between two additional presets, assign expression pedal control, and more.
Manifold Monster
One of the Brothers AM’s great strengths is its agreeable nature. It doesn’t seem to give a hoot what guitar or amp you throw in the pool with it. This easygoing personality makes it a great backline-surprise coping tool. Got a Telecaster and an AC15 conspiring to run you through with treble daggers? A dose of the Brothers AM’s soft-clipping OD and a dark tone setting will turn those sharp ends to honey without sapping too much energy. Need to slice through humbucker fog? A dollop of top end and a bump from the treble boost will cut through pea soup. Finding these agreeable baseline tones for a given guitar/amp combination is easy. But what’s most satisfying is shaping, refining, and recombining the Brother AM’s two basic voices into so many completely different identities.
Another great thing about the Brothers AM: You know how a lot of overdrives turn to mud at low amp volume? The Brothers AM sounds and feels great in this role. The range and interactivity between the tone and gain controls enables hot, lively tones and touch-responsive playing dynamics. The Rangemaster-voiced booster shines in this context, too. I got full-bodied, sparkling sounds from a 35-watt Fender Vibrolux whilst leaving room for an unamplified acoustic and voice in the same room. And it's easy to hear how Brothers AM will excel in small or home studios just as readily as it does in big rooms with big, loud amps.
If the Brothers AM has a drawback, it’s the heavily colored compression at the highest gain levels. But if the Brothers AM doesn’t shine brightest at these settings, the relative headroom and kinetic bump at most others underscore how you don’t need maximum gain to make your tone as hot as the hinges of Hades.
The Verdict
The Brothers AM makes almost any guitar or amp feel more alive and muscular, in shades ranging from a hint of heat and mass to fuzzy, fierce, and very loud. Though many stompbox clockers categorize the Brothers as a transparent overdrive, it does possess a compressed coloration throughout its range. It’s less cramped in the midrange than a vintage TS9, just as its creators intended. But if super-oxygenated boost-to-light-overdrive tones are the goal, you still might be better served by a good Klon clone or a preamp pedal that mixes in a clean signal. For anyone else, the Brothers AM is full of delights. It lends extra body and fullness to any tone recipe without stripping away instrument or amp personality. It’s effective in small rooms where you still want big-amp sound, but the visceral way it elevates a louder amp—especially with the thrilling treble booster in the mix—can make a player giddy. The Brothers AM, as suits its name, is like the kid at school that gets along with everyone. It doesn’t matter if you have a Rickenbacker and a Vox, an SG and a Deluxe Reverb, a baritone and a Marshall, or a decrepit old lipstick-pickup Silvertone and a Champ—all of them can sound and feel extra exciting along a spectrum that spans a gentle push and raging roar.
Xotic Effects newest version of the Vox-flavored AC Booster, the AC Booster V2, adds a second, footswitchable boost circuit (tweakable via a small, clear knob tucked among the four main-channel controls), plus a set of four DIP switches on the box’s righthand side which engage compression, modern or classic voicing, low-mid boost, and high-mid boost.
This new suite of features packs significant extra functionality into V2’s still-diminutive enclosure. The Vox sounds are all there, and with the high-mids juiced and treble nudged, you’re squarely in clanging Top Boost territory. The modern voicing trades some furry mid-range chunk for a bit more aggression and clarity, while the compression is useful for leveling leads and smoothing out unruly playing.
The boost knob is a little difficult to access, situated as it is in the center of the primary four-knob array. I don’t have particularly big fingers, but even I had trouble twiddling it. That’ll annoy some. But it’s a small price to pay for such a pedalboard-friendly footprint. The boost doses you with a healthy bump in level and gain that’s great for stand-out leads and solos. And speaking of standing out, the upper-mid boost switch is a treat. I found that creating a greater disparity between the high mids from the low mids made for a more precise and satisfying tone-shaping experience than I would experience using a standard mids knob.
There are no shortage of pedals that ape Vox AC30 mojo, but I haven’t seen many that will give you the range of utility that the AC Booster V2 will, for less for $200. Xotic nailed a smart and versatile redesign here.
Previously, John Bohlinger was curious about what active pickups could do for his anemic 1994 Stratocaster and EMG offered their drop-and-go Steve Lukather SL20 Pickguard set. JB was floored with the guitar's fresh voice and responsive dynamics he wanted to expand the active experiment to his beloved 2003 GibsonLes Paul. So we got a set of EMG Fat 55 Retro Active Humbuckers that required a full install and our luthier friend Dave Johnson walks us through the whole process before John got to test out his old friend's tonal makeover.
Learn more about EMG Fat 55 Retro Active Humbuckers here.
