Check out our special coverage of Amps to go along with the August 2016 issue of PG.
Two-Rock Amplification
Cardiff
A 15-watt EL84 amp with minimal compression and a fuller/fatter midrange and stout low end, Cardiff reflects the perfect marriage of British heritage and Two-Rock performance. Cardiff lets you dial in your own tone via a single input jack, bass, treble and volume control, a Contour Control, and a passive effects loop. Cardiff is available as a head with a matching 1 x 12 cabinet loaded with a Two-Rock 12-65B Speaker or 1x12 Combo.
Street Price: $1595 Head, $595 1x12 Cabinet
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Tone King Amplifiers
Royalist 45 MK II Combo
The Royalist MKII captures the essence of early British tones ranging from JTM45 to Plexi/Super Lead. It features a single channel preamp, an all-tube signal path with three 12AX7A preamp tubes, and two EL34 output tubes. Its series-wired effects loop is tube buffered for superb transparency. A built-in Ironman-II power attenuator uses a reactive load circuit and sophisticated compensation circuitry to deliver the genuine tone and feel of a "raging stack", even at bedroom volume.
Street Price: $2,995
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Fishman
Loudbox Acoustic Instrument Amplifiers
The industry’s best-selling acoustic instrument amplifiers, Fishman’s Loudbox series offers the power and features that musicians demand. Each model provides ultra-clean acoustic power, two channels featuring Fishman’s legendary preamp and tone control designs, digital reverb, feedback-fighting Phase control, ¼” and XLR inputs, and balanced XLR D.I. outputs. Loudbox acoustic instrument amplifiers deliver the tonal quality that has made the Fishman name the standard for great acoustic sound.
Starting at: $329.95
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Henriksen Amplifiers
The Bud
If you play, you need a Bud.
The Bud is the without question the smallest, TRULY GIGABLE guitar amplifier on the market with unmatched tone quality! At 9x9x9 inches, 17 pounds and 120 watts of analog power, you won't believe the volume and tone coming from either your electric or acoustic guitar, or any stringed instrument with a pickup for that matter, and with a feature set that allows you the versatility to cover almost any kind of gig, this is a MUST HAVE piece of gear for the working musician.
Starting at: $1,099
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Fryette Amplification
Valvulator® GP/DI
Introducing The Fryette Valvulator® GP/DI, Desktop Recording Amplifier. This is is an ALL-TUBE low-power guitar amplifier, pre-amplifier, direct box, and all-around low-volume-playing solution. The GP/DI is specifically designed to work in situations where you can't or don’t need to play loud, such as late-night playing and recording, headphone practicing, and recording straight into the board live. It is the first all-tube guitar amplifier designed to do that without any additional equipment and a minimum of trouble.
• One Watt all-tube Amplifier with integrated reactive load.
• Extremely broad tonal range, from clean to high gain.
• Analog Speaker Sim "Cab + Mic" section for direct recording.
• Built-in tube Direct Injection output, usable separately as a Tube Direct box , or together with the amplifier.
• Balanced XLR outputs for amp out or tube buffered D.I.
• Fully functional self-contained "Re-Amping" solution.
• Can drive a 1-12” cabinet
• Made in the USA
Starting at: $799
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Fryette Amplification
Pittbull UltraLead Head
The Fryette Pittbull® Ultra-Lead is a powerful, versatile channel switching amplifier suited for players of any style. Uncompromising personality makes it the choice of world-class players from all genres of music. The Ultra-Lead's KT88 power section provides stunning clarity and definition whether playing ultra-clean or maximum gain.
The FatBottom 212 low-profile cabinets feature Fane F70G speakers and mono/stereo input capability. Front mounted speakers produce a tight, focused low end and extended projection.
Starting at:
$3,799 (Ultra-Lead head);
$999 (FatBottom 212 F70G)
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Fryette Amplification
Power Station®
The Fryette Power Station® PS-2 is a reactive load coupled to a dual 6L6 vacuum tube power amplifier that allows you to attenuate a high powered guitar amp, or boost a low powered guitar amp.
• Perfectly preserves the tone of the attenuated amplifier.
• Maintains dynamic feel at any volume.
• Provides an effects loop.
• New Input Level sensitivity switch, rear panel Low Pass Filter Bypass switch, and Balanced XLR Line Output.
Street Price: $699
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Fane USA
Ascension F70
"FANE’S NEW ASCENSION RANGE OF 12" speakers was developed with input from Southern California amp designer Steven Fryette, and aims to capture the punchy, bold, yet harmonically complex and responsive performance that people love in the classic late-’60s and early-’70s speakers from this under-appreciated British maker. The Fane sound became legendary due to their use in certain Hiwatt guitar cabinets of the era, and Fane’s new models provide added versatility for the contemporary player." (Guitar Player, March 2016)
The Fane Ascension F70 offers a stunningly detailed top-end, rich mid-range and warm low-end with an intricate three-dimensional vintage crunch. The beauty of the F70 is that you need not even change your amplifier's setting to appreciate its ability to articulate delicate passages or manage pummeling abuse with ease. Whether your application is a head and cab or an open back combo, the F70 adds a welcome new dimension to existing rigs.
Street Price: $199
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Radial Engineering ltd.
Radial JDX Direct-Drive™
Emulates the sound of a guitar amplifier while doubling as a direct box. Unlike a typical DI that merely transfers the sound from guitar/pedals to the PA, the Direct-Drive simulates the tone and feel of an amp, producing much more realistic sound. With the Direct-Drive on your pedalboard, you can do a gig without an amp! A passive thru-put feeds a stage amp (if you want one) and a dedicated tuner output is buffered to eliminate pickup loading and tuner noise. Guitar signal goes through a series of carefully sculpted filters to create Radial’s signature 'Shure-SM57™-on-a-Marshall™- 4x12-cabinet' tone. 'Vintage Marshall™' and 'early Fender Twin™' alternate voicings can be further tailored with the 'presence' switch for extra sparkle. Output via ¼” guitar-level and balanced XLR to feed the PA. A 180° polarity reverse phase-aligns monitors/PA sound with stage amp and a 'Lift' switch eliminates hum and buzz caused by ground loops.
Street Price: $899.99
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Tube Amp Doctor
TAD STR-SERIES Premium Quality Tubes
Tube Amp Doctor's STR-TUBES are inspired by the most wanted NOS tubes of the golden age of tube manufacturing. They are produced to our exclusive designs and strict specifications.
A unique sequence of tests, our burn-in process and our sophisticated and genuine bias-matching, carried out by our highly experienced staff, make TAD's STR-TUBES the finest and best selected premium quality tubes currently in the market. Here are only some of the benefits - everything for the one and only goal – the ultimate tone:
• Better overall response
• Increased, dynamic headroom
• Superior tone and performance
• Maximum reliability, consistency and sturdiness
• Designed and tested in Germany
• All tubes tested individually
• Power Tubes are matched by Ia (PC) and Gm (TC) with lowest tolerances
Street Price: varies
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Tube Amp Doctor
TAD CAPACITORS
Handmade TAD MUSTARD CAPS produced with the authentic film-to-foil alu/PE design, exclusively for TAD!
TAD Audio Caps feature the authentic flat-foil design and will refine tone with excellent overtones and rich details.
TAD Gold Caps are available in radial and axial shape - high temperature resistant, vintage correct sizes and specifications.
TAD Vintage Oil Caps complete our premium line of foil capacitors, vintage correct specs and values, for a smooth, natural and harmonically delightful tone.
Street Price: varies
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Tube Amp Doctor
TAD Reverb Cans
Our high-quality, classic TAD REVERB CANS bring back the stunning reverb sound of the 60s. The ideal drop-in replacement and upgrade for vintage and modern amps!
Street Price: varies
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ProCo Sound
Evolution Silent Instrument Cable 20ft
We could say that evolution cables are the best sounding cables on the market....except they don't sound at all. An unnoticeable, uninhibited link in an audio chain so often bound by the constraints of inadequate cables. A Sonically Superior design combined with the truly evolutionary Softtouch jacket, Evolution will change how you feel about cables and revolutionize the way you connect to YOUR world.
Pro Co EVOLUTION Instrument Cable Features:
100% oxygen-free wire for long life and great sound
Noiseless dual-shielded design rejects outside noise
Neutrik black and gold connectors for a solid, clean connection
Silent Switch eliminates amp pops when removing cable
Supple soft touch jacket
Street Price: $73.99
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Bergantino Audio Systems
Bergantino B|Amp
The B|Amp is an incredibly flexible, easy to use, state-of-the-art Bass Amplifier, delivering maximum performance in a compact package. The B|Amp takes a new approach by including the speaker cabinet’s response as part of the signal path. No other bass amplifier on the market has the ability to manage speakers and overall system performance like the B|AMP. This is accomplished through our Proprietary Profile EQ system. The B|Amp is a game changer in Bass Amplification!
Street Price: $1,399 ProNet
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Swart Amplifier Co.
MOD84
The MOD84, Swart’s first EL-84 offering, is 15w of 100% hand-wired, turret board construction, USA made with 3-way interactive EQ, top controls, tube reverb, tremolo, and rectification. It has some of the most soulful cleans with the ability to intertwine some fur and angst with push/attack. It's got that Swart harmonic richness while still being open and transparent, featuring excellent touch sensitivity. This is really a do it all amp that can cross musical genres.
Street Price: $1,750 w/Celestion Creamback
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GURUS Amps
5015 Head
5015 is our Single Channel + iChannel™ 50W head in a lunchbox size. Thanks to its easy 3 controls you can sculpt your tone to reach best performances in every situations, from your home to a big stage. You can obtain a totally clean sound with lot of headroom to use as a platform for your pedals rig, and/or choose to get it to compression of both stages, preamp or power section using its separate controls volume and master to obtain stunning vintage or modern tone.
With the SexyTone™, you can manage the EQ curve of your amp simply with a single knob which works on 3filters simultaneously, moving the entire tone-stack curve for best result and as a fine tuning of your final tone, matching the right cab etc..
It is equipped by a tube buffered Serial loop and has 3 out on 4,8 and 16Ohms.
Street Price: $900
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Roland
Blues Cube Hot
GIG-READY BLUES CUBE “TUBE LOGIC” TONE IN A PORTABLE COMBO AMP
• Performance-ready 30-watt compact combo guitar amplifier with authentic tube tone and touch response
• Roland’s comprehensive Tube Logic design delivers the interactive tonal behaviors of famous fine-tuned vintage tube amps, including preamp and output tube saturation characteristics, power supply compression, and much more
• Master volume, three-band EQ, and onboard reverb, plus footswitchable Boost for natural crunch and Tone for bright presence
• Four-way Power Control (0.5 W, 5 W, 15 W, Max) allows for cranked-up tones at any volume
• Classic open-back design with custom 12-inch speaker and poplar cabinet for enhanced presence on stage
• Stylish, modern look with a vintage vibe
• Efficient, lightweight design provides easy portability without sacrificing tone quality
• USB output for high-quality direct recording to a computer
• Available in two color variations: Vintage Blond and Black
Street Price: $499
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Friedman Amplification
Runt-50 Combo
• 50-Watt all tube amplifier / Two channels
• 2 x EL-34 power tubes / 4 x 12AX7 preamp tubes
• Clean channel with Volume, Bass, Treble and ? Bright switch
• Lead channel with Volume, Gain, three-band EQ ? and a boost switch.
• XLR Cab Simulated output with Ground Lift, Axis ? and Level switches.
• Ultra transparent series FX loop
• 4, 8 and 16 ohm impedance selector
• Single button footswitch
Street Price: $1,999.99
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Morgan Amplification
MVP23 combo
• Power: ¼ - 23w variable (tube)
• Hand-wired in the USA
• 2x EL-84 power tubes
• 2x 12AX7 preamp tubes
• Celestion G12H75 Creamback
• Power Level control
• Gain
• Volume
• Treble
• Mid
• Bass
• 2x8 ohm 1x16 ohm outputs
• Limited lifetime warranty
Street Price: $1,749.00
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Celestion
Neo Creamback
The Neo Creamback delivers all the magical tone you’d expect from a traditional Creamback. The difference is the neodymium magnet, which makes this speaker around half the weight of a traditional guitar speaker. You still get the low end punch, warm midrange and sweet highs the Creamback is famous for: push it hard and enjoy the ‘race-car growl’. But pick up a cab loaded with Neo Creambacks and see what makes this speaker truly different.
Street Price: $169
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MESA/Boogie®
JP-2C™
Inspired by their long-standing relationship with John Petrucci, MESA/Boogie® is proud to introduce the JP-2C™. The model is MESA’s first unlimited-build signature amplifier and joins the MARK Series as a next generation re-issue of the legendary MARK IIC+™. With modernized features, benefitting from over three decades of R&D, the JP-2C delivers three channels, two assignable EQs, 60/100 watts, MIDI, Cabclone™ DI and the legendary IIC+ tone that so many recording artists and MESA enthusiasts covet.
Street Price: $2,499
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Revv Amplification Inc
Generator 120
The Generator 120 watt amplifier, is a 4 channel variable gain, all tube amplifier designed to be everything the touring musician, or the weekend warrior, will need in an amplifier. From beautiful warm sparkling cleans, vintage style crunch, to deep metal rhythm or searing leads, this amplifier does it all and more.
Street Price: $2,499
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Park Amplifiers
Park Little Rock 18
The Park Little Rock 18 a finely tuned classic rock amp. It features the same preamp as higher powered Park amps plus switchable cascaded channels for higher gain and a power amp capable of using a number of power tubes (6V6, 6L6, EL34 for 14 to 24 watts). The amp produces beautiful clean tones plus overdriven blues and classic rock tones all at playing levels that are suitable for the bedroom, studio or small club.
Street Price: $2,499
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TELEFUNKEN Elektroakustik
Black Diamond Series Vaccuum Tubes
TELEFUNKEN vacuum tubes have been the benchmark of excellence in all audio applications for many decades. This rich history continues with the introduction of new production tubes from TELEFUNKEN Elektroakustik.
Each tube is meticulously measured for all critical parameters of performance including transconductance, gain, noise, and microphonics. In addition to the rigorous testing procedure, all new TELEFUNKEN tubes are cryogenically treated to ensure durability, and subjected to an extended burn-in period to ensure superior stability.
Street Price: varies
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Goodsell Amplifiers
Mark IV Series Custom Amplifiers
Goodsell's Custom Mark IV Series amps feature a cathode-follower 3-way tone stack, offering more control over Goodell's sumptuous tube-driven sonics. Available with reverb and award-winning bias-vary tremolo. Configurations include 1x12 combo shown here; 2x10, 2x12 and 1x15 combos; and head-only versions built to order. Call Richard Goodsell today to discuss your next custom build.
Street Price: $1,499
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Dusky Electronics
D₂O Amplifier
The Dusky Electronics D₂O Amplifier is an all new, original design, vacuum tube musical instrument amplifier. The D₂O combines a classic, short signal path architecture with modern refinements for low noise and high reliability, to produce an amplifier that feels like an extension of yourself—an exquisite tool for seamlessly conveying your artistic intent. This is no clone. The D₂O delivers enormous clean sounds or wicked breakup with a musical feel you must try for yourself.
Street Price: $1,500
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3 Monkeys Amps
Nashville Howler
Designed in conjunction with Grammy Award winning songwriter, musician, and producer Gordon Kennedy, The Nashville Howler has plenty of clean headroom and a Marshallesque tone stack making it the ideal bedroom and small venue amp.
Described by Gordon as a "Tweed Deluxe with a British accent!"
Controls are VOLUME, TREBLE, MIDDLE, BASS, and PRESENCE. Two cathode biased 6V6 power tubes and three 12AX7 preamp tubes combine for about 15 watts of power.
Street Price: $1,849
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Keith Urban’s first instrument was a ukulele at age 4. When he started learning guitar two years later, he complained that it made his fingers hurt. Eventually, he came around. As did the world.
He’s in the Songwriters Hall of Fame. He’s won 13 Country Music Association Awards, nine CMT video awards, eight ARIA (Australian Recording Industry Association) Awards, four American Music Awards, and racked up BMI Country Awards for 25 different singles.
He’s been a judge on American Idol and The Voice. In conjunction with Yamaha, he has his own brand of affordably priced Urban guitars and amps, and he has posted beginner guitar lessons on YouTube. His 2014 Academy of Country Music Award-winning video for “Highways Don’t Care” featured Tim McGraw and Keith’s former opening act, Taylor Swift. Add his marriage to fellow Aussie, the actress Nicole Kidman, and he’s seen enough red carpet to cover a football field.
Significantly, his four Grammys were all for Country Male Vocal Performance. A constant refrain among newcomers is, “and he’s a really good guitar player,” as if by surprise or an afterthought. Especially onstage, his chops are in full force. There are country elements, to be sure, but rock, blues, and pop influences like Mark Knopfler are front and center.
Unafraid to push the envelope, 2020’s The Speed of Now Part 1 mixed drum machines, processed vocals, and a duet with Pink with his “ganjo”—an instrument constructed of a 6-string guitar neck on a banjo body—and even a didgeridoo. It, too, shot to No. 1 on the Billboard Country chart and climbed to No. 7 on the Pop chart.
His new release, High, is more down-to-earth, but is not without a few wrinkles. He employs an EBow on “Messed Up As Me” and, on “Wildfire,” makes use of a sequencerreminiscent of ZZ Top’s “Legs.” Background vocals in “Straight Lines” imitate a horn section, and this time out he duets on “Go Home W U” with rising country star Lainey Wilson. The video for “Heart Like a Hometown” is full of home movies and family photos of a young Urban dwarfed by even a 3/4-size Suzuki nylon-string.
Born Keith Urbahn (his surname’s original spelling) in New Zealand, his family moved to Queensland, Australia, when he was 2. He took up guitar at 6, two years after receiving his beloved ukulele. He released his self-titled debut album in 1991 for the Australian-only market, and moved to Nashville two years later. It wasn’t until ’97 that he put out a group effort, fronting the Ranch, and another self-titled album marked his American debut as a leader, in ’99. It eventually went platinum—a pattern that’s become almost routine.
The 57-year-old’s celebrity and wealth were hard-earned and certainly a far cry from his humble beginnings. “Australia is a very working-class country, certainly when I was growing up, and I definitely come from working-class parents,” he details. “My dad loved all the American country artists, like Johnny Cash, Haggard, Waylon. He didn’t play professionally, but before he got married he played drums in a band, and my grandfather and uncles all played instruments.
One of Urban’s biggest influences as a young guitar player was Mark Knopfler, but he was also mesmerized by lesser-known session musicians such as Albert Lee, Ian Bairnson, Reggie Young, and Ray Flacke. Here, he’s playing a 1950 Broadcaster once owned by Waylon Jennings that was a gift from Nicole Kidman, his wife.
“For me, it was a mix of that and Top 40 radio, which at the time was much more diverse than it is now. You would just hear way more genres, and Australia itself had its own, what they call Aussie pub rock—very blue-collar, hard-driving music for the testosterone-fueled teenager. Grimy, sweaty, kind of raw themes.”
A memorable event happened when he was 7. “My dad got tickets for the whole family to see Johnny Cash. He even bought us little Western shirts and bolo ties. It was amazing.”
But the ukulele he was gifted a few years earlier, at the age of 4, became a constant companion. “I think to some degree it was my version of the stuffed animal, something that was mine, and I felt safe with it. My dad said I would strum it in time to all the songs on the radio, and he told my mom, ‘He’s got rhythm. I wonder what a good age is for him to learn chords.’ My mom and dad ran a little corner store, and a lady named Sue McCarthy asked if she could put an ad in the window offering guitar lessons. They said, ‘If you teach our kid for free, we’ll put your ad in the window.’”
Yet, guitar didn’t come without problems. “With the guitar, my fingers hurt like hell,” he laughs, “and I started conveniently leaving the house whenever the guitar teacher would show up. Typical kid. I don’t wanna learn, I just wanna be able to do it. It didn’t feel like any fun. My dad called me in and went, ‘What the hell? The teacher comes here for lessons. What’s the problem?’ I said I didn’t want to do it anymore. He just said, ‘Okay, then don’t do it.’ Kind of reverse psychology, right? So I just stayed with it and persevered. Once I learned a few chords, it was the same feeling when any of us learn how to be moving on a bike with two wheels and nobody holding us up. That’s what those first chords felt like in my hands.”
Keith Urban's Gear
Urban has 13 Country Music Association Awards, nine CMT video awards, eight ARIA Awards, and four Grammys to his name—the last of which are all for Best Country Male Vocal Performance.
Guitars
For touring:
- Maton Diesel Special
- Maton EBG808TE Tommy Emmanuel Signature
- 1957 Gibson Les Paul Junior, TV yellow
- 1959 Gibson ES-345 (with Varitone turned into a master volume)
- Fender 40th Anniversary Tele, “Clarence”
- Two first-generation Fender Eric Clapton Stratocasters (One is black with DiMarzio Area ’67 pickups, standard tuning. The other is pewter gray, loaded with Fralin “real ’54” pickups, tuned down a half-step.)
- John Bolin Telecaster (has a Babicz bridge with a single humbucker and a single volume control. Standard tuning.)
- PRS Paul’s Guitar (with two of their narrowfield humbuckers. Standard tuning.)
- Yamaha Keith Urban Acoustic Guitar (with EMG ACS soundhole pickups)
- Deering “ganjo”
Amps
- Mid-’60s black-panel Fender Showman (modified by Chris Miller, with oversized transformers to power 6550 tubes; 130 watts)
- 100-watt Dumble Overdrive Special (built with reverb included)
- Two Pacific Woodworks 1x12 ported cabinets (Both are loaded with EV BlackLabel Zakk Wylde signature speakers and can handle 300 watts each.)
Effects
- Two Boss SD-1W Waza Craft Super Overdrives with different settings
- Mr. Black SuperMoon Chrome
- FXengineering RAF Mirage Compressor
- Ibanez TS9 with Tamura Mod
- Boss BD-2 Blues Driver
- J. Rockett Audio .45 Caliber Overdrive
- Pro Co RAT 2
- Radial Engineering JX44 (for guitar distribution)
- Fractal Audio Axe-Fx XL+ (for acoustic guitars)
- Two Fractal Audio Axe-Fx III (one for electric guitar, one for bass)
- Bricasti Design Model 7 Stereo Reverb Processor
- RJM Effect Gizmo (for pedal loops)
(Note: All delays, reverb, chorus, etc. is done post amp. The signal is captured with microphones first then processed by Axe-Fx and other gear.)
- Shure Axient Digital Wireless Microphone System
Strings & Picks
- D’Addario NYXL (.011–.049; electric)
- D’Addario EJ16 (.012–.053; acoustics)
- D’Addario EJ16, for ganjo (.012–.053; much thicker than a typical banjo strings)
- D’Addario 1.0 mm signature picks
He vividly remembers the first song he was able to play after “corny songs like ‘Mama’s little baby loves shortnin’ bread.’” He recalls, “There was a song I loved by the Stylistics, ‘You Make Me Feel Brand New.’ My guitar teacher brought in the sheet music, so not only did I have the words, but above them were the chords. I strummed the first chord, and went, [sings E to Am] ‘My love,’ and then minor, ‘I'll never find the words, my,’ back to the original chord, ‘love.’ Even now, I get covered in chills thinking what it felt like to sing and put that chord sequence together.”
After the nylon-string Suzuki, he got his first electric at 9. “It was an Ibanez copy of a Telecaster Custom—the classic dark walnut with the mother-of-pearl pickguard. My first Fender was a Stratocaster. I wanted one so badly. I’d just discovered Mark Knopfler, and I only wanted a red Strat, because that’s what Knopfler had. And he had a red Strat because of Hank Marvin. All roads lead to Hank!”
He clarifies, “Remember a short-lived run of guitar that Fender did around 1980–’81, simply called ‘the Strat’? I got talked into buying one of those, and the thing weighed a ton. Ridiculously heavy. But I was just smitten when it arrived. ‘Sultans of Swing’ was the first thing I played on it. ‘Oh my god! I sound a bit like Mark.’”
“Messed Up As Me” has some licks reminiscent of Knopfler. “I think he influenced a huge amount of my fingerpicking and melodic choices. I devoured those records more than any other guitar player. ‘Tunnel of Love,’ ‘Love over Gold,’ ‘Telegraph Road,’ the first Dire Straits album, and Communique. I was spellbound by Mark’s touch, tone, and melodic choice every time.”
Other influences are more obscure. “There were lots of session guitar players whose solos I was loving, but had no clue who they were,” he explains. “A good example was Ian Bairnson in the Scottish band Pilot and the Alan Parsons Project. It was only in the last handful of years that I stumbled upon him and did a deep dive, and realized he played the solo on ‘Wuthering Heights’ by Kate Bush, ‘Eye in the Sky’ by Alan Parsons, ‘It’s Magic’ and ‘January’ by Pilot’—all these songs that spoke to me growing up. I also feel like a lot of local-band guitar players are inspirations—they certainly were to me. They didn’t have a name, the band wasn’t famous, but when you’re 12 or 13, watching Barry Clough and guys in cover bands, it’s, ‘Man, I wish I could play like that.’”
On High, Urban keeps things song-oriented, playing short and economical solos.
In terms of country guitarists, he nods, “Again, a lot of session players whose names I didn’t know, like Reggie Young. The first names I think would be Albert Lee and Ray Flacke, whose chicken pickin’ stuff on the Ricky Skaggs records became a big influence. ‘How is he doing that?’”
Flacke played a role in a humorous juxtaposition. “I camped out to see Iron Maiden,” Urban recounts. “They’d just put out Number of the Beast, and I was a big fan. I was 15, so my hormones were raging. I’d been playing country since I was 6, 7, 8 years old. But this new heavy-metal thing is totally speaking to me. So I joined a heavy metal band called Fractured Mirror, just as their guitar player. At the same time, I also discovered Ricky Skaggs and Highways and Heartaches. What is this chicken pickin’ thing? One night I was in the metal band, doing a Judas Priest song or Saxon. They threw me a solo, and through my red Strat, plugged into a Marshall stack that belonged to the lead singer, I shredded this high-distortion, chicken pickin’ solo. The lead singer looked at me like, ‘What the fuck are you doing?’ I got fired from the band.”
Although at 15 he “floated around different kinds of music and bands,” when he was 21 he saw John Mellencamp. “He’d just put out Lonesome Jubilee. I’d been in bands covering ‘Hurts So Good,' ‘Jack & Diane,’ and all the early shit. This record had fiddle and mandolin and acoustic guitars, wall of electrics, drums—the most amazing fusion of things. I saw that concert, and this epiphany happened so profoundly. I looked at the stage and thought, ‘Whoa! I get it. You take all your influences and make your own thing. That’s what John did. I’m not gonna think about genre; I’m gonna take all the things I love and find my way.’
“Of course, getting to Nashville with that recipe wasn’t going to fly in 1993,” he laughs. “Took me another seven-plus years to really start getting some traction in that town.”
Urban’s main amp today is a Dumble Overdrive Reverb, which used to belong to John Mayer. He also owns a bass amp that Alexander Dumble built for himself.
Photo by Jim Summaria
When it comes to “crossover” in country music, one thinks of Glen Campbell, Kenny Rogers, Garth Brooks, and Dolly Parton’s more commercial singles like “Two Doors Down.” Regarding the often polarizing subject and, indeed, what constitutes country music, it’s obvious that Urban has thought a lot—and probably been asked a lot—about the syndrome. The Speed of Now Part 1 blurs so many lines, it makes Shania Twain sound like Mother Maybelle Carter. Well, almost.
“I can’t speak for any other artists, but to me, it’s always organic,” he begins. “Anybody that’s ever seen me play live would notice that I cover a huge stylistic field of music, incorporating my influences, from country, Top 40, rock, pop, soft rock, bluegrass, real country. That’s how you get songs like ‘Kiss a Girl’—maybe more ’70s influence than anything else.”
“I think [Mark Knopfler] influenced a huge amount of my fingerpicking and melodic choices. I devoured those records more than any other guitar player.”
Citing ’50s producers Chet Atkins and Owen Bradley, who moved the genre from hillbilly to the more sophisticated countrypolitan, Keith argues, “In the history of country music, this is exactly the same as it has always been. Patsy Cline doing ‘Walking After Midnight’ or ‘Crazy’; it ain’t Bob Wills. It ain’t Hank Williams. It’s a new sound, drawing on pop elements. That’s the 1950s, and it has never changed. I’ve always seen country like a lung, that expands outwards because it embraces new sounds, new artists, new fusions, to find a bigger audience. Then it feels, ‘We’ve lost our way. Holy crap, I don’t even know who we are,’ and it shrinks back down again. Because a purist in the traditional sense comes along, whether it be Ricky Skaggs or Randy Travis. The only thing that I think has changed is there’s portals now for everything, which didn’t used to exist. There isn’t one central control area that would yell at everybody, ‘You’ve got to bring it back to the center.’ I don’t know that we have that center anymore.”
Stating his position regarding the current crop of talent, he reflects, “To someone who says, ‘That’s not country music,’ I always go, “‘It’s not your country music; it’s somebody else’s country music.’ I don’t believe anybody has a right to say something’s not anything. It’s been amazing watching this generation actually say, ‘Can we get back to a bit of purity? Can we get real guitars and real storytelling?’ So you’ve seen the explosion of Zach Bryan and Tyler Childers who are way purer than the previous generation of country music.”
Seen performing here in 2003, Urban is celebrated mostly for his songwriting, but is also an excellent guitarist.
Photo by Steve Trager/Frank White Photo Agency
As for the actual recording process, he notes, “This always shocks people, but ‘Chattahoochee’ by Alan Jackson is all drum machine. I write songs on acoustic guitar and drum machine, or drum machine and banjo. Of course, you go into the studio and replace that with a drummer. But my very first official single, in 1999, was ‘It’s a Love Thing,’ and it literally opens with a drum loop and an acoustic guitar riff. Then the drummer comes in. But the loop never goes away, and you hear it crystal clear. I haven’t changed much about that approach.”
On the road, Urban utilizes different electrics “almost always because of different pickups—single-coil, humbucker, P-90. And then one that’s tuned down a half-step for a few songs in half-keys. Tele, Strat, Les Paul, a couple of others for color. I’ve got a John Bolin guitar that I love—the feel of it. It’s a Tele design with just one PAF, one volume knob, no tone control. It’s very light, beautifully balanced—every string, every fret, all the way up the neck. It doesn’t have a lot of tonal character of its own, so it lets my fingers do the coloring. You can feel the fingerprints of Billy Gibbons on this guitar. It’s very Billy.”
“I looked at the stage and thought, ‘Whoa! I get it. You take all your influences and make your own thing. I’m gonna take all the things I love and find my way.’”
Addressing his role as the collector, “or acquirer,” as he says, some pieces have quite a history. “I haven’t gone out specifically thinking, ‘I’m missing this from the collection.’ I feel really lucky to have a couple of very special guitars. I got Waylon Jennings’ guitar in an auction. It was one he had all through the ’70s, wrapped in the leather and the whole thing. In the ’80s, he gave it to Reggie Young, who owned it for 25 years or so and eventually put it up for auction. My wife wanted to give it to me for my birthday. I was trying to bid on it, and she made sure that I couldn’t get registered! When it arrived, I discovered it’s a 1950 Broadcaster—which is insane. I had no idea. I just wanted it because I’m a massive Waylon fan, and I couldn’t bear the thought of that guitar disappearing overseas under somebody’s bed, when it should be played.
“I also have a 1951 Nocaster, which used to belong to Tom Keifer in Cinderella. It’s the best Telecaster I’ve ever played, hands down. It has the loudest, most ferocious pickup, and the wood is amazing.”
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Urban plays a Gibson SG here at the 2023 CMT Music Awards. Wait until the end to see him show off his shred abilities.
Other favorites include “a first-year Strat, ’54, that I love, and a ’58 goldtop. I also own a ’58 ’burst, but prefer the goldtop; it’s just a bit more spanky and lively. I feel abundantly blessed with the guitars I’ve been able to own and play. And I think every guitar should be played, literally. There’s no guitar that’s too precious to be played.”
Speaking of precious, there are also a few Dumble amps that elicit “oohs” and “aahs.” “Around 2008, John Mayer had a few of them, and he wanted to part with this particular Overdrive Special head. When he told me the price, I said, ‘That sounds ludicrous.’ He said, ‘How much is your most expensive guitar?’ It was three times the value of the amp. He said, ‘So that’s one guitar. What amp are you plugging all these expensive guitars into?’ I was like, ‘Sold. I guess when you look at it that way.’ It’s just glorious. It actually highlighted some limitations in some guitars I never noticed before.”
“It’s just glorious. It actually highlighted some limitations in some guitars I never noticed before.”
Keith also developed a relationship with the late Alexander Dumble. “We emailed back and forth, a lot of just life stuff and the beautifully eccentric stuff he was known for. His vocabulary was as interesting as his tubes and harmonic understanding. My one regret is that he invited me out to the ranch many times, and I was never able to go. Right now, my main amp is an Overdrive Reverb that also used to belong to John when he was doing the John Mayer Trio. I got it years later. And I have an Odyssey, which was Alexander’s personal bass amp that he built for himself. I sent all the details to him, and he said, ‘Yeah, that’s my amp.’”
The gearhead in Keith doesn’t even mind minutiae like picks and strings. “I’ve never held picks with the pointy bit hitting the string. I have custom picks that D’Addario makes for me. They have little grippy ridges like on Dunlops and Hercos, but I have that section just placed in one corner. I can use a little bit of it on the string, or I can flip it over. During the pandemic, I decided to go down a couple of string gauges. I was getting comfortable on .009s, and I thought, ‘Great. I’ve lightened up my playing.’ Then the very first gig, I was bending the crap out of them. So I went to .010s, except for a couple of guitars that are .011s.”
As with his best albums, High is song-oriented; thus, solos are short and economical. “Growing up, I listened to songs where the guitar was just in support of that song,” he reasons. “If the song needs a two-bar break, and then you want to hear the next vocal section, that’s what it needs. If it sounds like it needs a longer guitar section, then that’s what it needs. There’s even a track called ‘Love Is Hard’ that doesn’t have any solo. It’s the first thing I’ve ever recorded in my life where I literally don’t play one instrument. Eren Cannata co-wrote it [with Shane McAnally and Justin Tranter], and I really loved the demo with him playing all the instruments. I loved it so much I just went with his acoustic guitar. I’m that much in service of the song.”
The new AD200 is still designed on the premise that the best tone comes from the shortest signal path from bass to speaker. Whatever type of bass, playing style, or genre of music, the AD200 faithfully retains the tone of that instrument.
The addition of a new clean switch, in combination with a powerful three-band EQ, gives AD200 players an even broader frequency spectrum to dial into their amp. In addition, a brand new output transformer, with 3 inches of laminations, harnesses double the power at 30Hz, offering better response at low frequencies. ‘It now pushes more air, flaps more trouser leg — simple as that,’ explains Orange Amps Technical Director Ade Emsley. From mellow hues to heavy, percussive growl and even slap bass, the ultimate incarnation of the AD200, has just become even more versatile.
Internal changes make the amp easier to service and maintain. Each output valve now has its own 12 turn bias pot, so unmatched valves can sit side by side. ‘Now, any tech with a multimeter can bias the amp and match the valves into the amp,’ explains Emsley. ‘So, if you’re on the road with a band, you can go swap a worn valve for a new one, dial it in and you’re good to go.’ Whilst the four KT88 output valves push 200 Watts of power, the amp will run equally as well on 6550s or a combination of the two.
‘It’s a big improvement on the previous version,’ says Ade Emsley, of his work on the updated AD200. ‘It still does everything the old one does, it’s still the industry standard, but it’s now simpler, easier to use, easier to service and futureproof.’
The new, decluttered front panel design is reminiscent of the company’s iconic 1970’s amps with its original ‘bubble-writing’ Orange logo and the ‘pics-only’ hieroglyphs, all wrapped in the company’s distinctive orange Tolex covering.
Over the last forty years, the Orange Bass Cabinets have become an undeniable industry standard. They have been remodelled to use Celestion Pulse XL bass speakers across the OBC810C, OBC410HC, and OBC115C cabs. The upgrade delivers a tight, punchy low-end with a warm mid-range that’s full of presence. The premium build of these cabinets remains, delivering players, bands and techs the road-worthy dependability they demand. In addition, the popular OBC410HC has been modified by removing one vertical partition and strengthening the horizontal one to be lighter and tighten up low-end response.
For more information, please visit orangeamps.com.
