This beauty cherry picks aspects from Jonathan Nuñez’s favorite guitars. It all started with his love affair with his friend’s G&L F-100 while recording Admission. The F-100 he borrowed had a smooth floating trem arm that bends and wobbles all over the new record. “The trem was too much fun to play,” Nuñez jokes. “But once we finished the record, I realized, shit, I need to pull this off live.”
So, with the task of reverse engineering a guitar that is suited for Torche’s established roar and new tones flexed on Admission, Nuñez turned to some more friends. To keep in tradition with bandmate Steve Brooks’ and Torche’s steam-locomotive sound, he got a metal neck from Robot Graves Industries and put it with a curvy, mahogany, Mosrite-style body built by fellow South Florida rocker Joe Koontz (formerly of Against All Authority aka AAA). Nuñez has always been partial to the Bill Lawrence L-500 humbucker and thanks to his buddy (and Rig Rundown alumnus) Bobb Bruno of Best Coast turned him onto the Mastery OMV Vibrato, so those features made into this custom piece. All of his guitars take custom-gauge Dunlop strings (.070–.052–.046–.017–.013–.010). The band’s main tuning is an octave tuning that consists of A–A–D–G–B–E.
On the heels of their fifth album, 2019’s Admission, Torche hit the road for an extensive tour that started out having the harmonious doomers open for Baroness before venturing out for their own headlining sets. We fortunately caught the band on the latter run and guitarist Jonathan Nuñez (who also has served as the band’s bassist for 13 years and producer/engineer for Admission) spoke to PG’s Chris Kies about his and Steve Brooks’ slim setups that center around custom-made, metal-neck instruments and explains why he started Nuñez Amplification, which has become a big part of the band’s sonorous sonic imprint.
This Fender Telecaster HH Rosewood (with a Lace Nitro Hemi in the bridge) is the “bomb-note” guitar that sees stage time for “Infierno,” “What Was,” and “Annihilation Affair.” It takes the same .010–.070 strings and is set to the aforementioned octave tuning, but (as you’ll hear in the video) the 6th string is, well, not exactly ready for battle. It flops and allows Nuñez and Brooks to thwap the dead string producing a huge bomb-drop note. This was first discovered when Brooks was recording with his first band Floor and someone busted a string mid song, causing a lightning-strike noise.
In 2017, Nuñez switched from bass to guitar and missed the blowing breeze that his Ampeg 8x10 stack stirred up each night. Feeling a void after trying countless amps, Nuñez got Overtone Works’ Gary Phillips on the horn and the first idea that came to fruition was the Annex Bass Channel pedal. After that, the tone-chasing duo set their sights on an Annex guitar amp. The way Nuñez describes this 130-watt behemoth is this: “a handwired, discrete class A/B, quad-voiced, dual-channel, all-tube head.” Each channel is independent, so you’re essentially getting two amps in one box. Channel one has symmetrical clipping, while channel two has asymmetrical clipping. This growler is brought to life thanks to a quartet of EL34s. The one shown above is a MkII variant.
Jonathan Nuñez’s pedal playground is host to a pair of EarthQuaker Devices stomps—Arpanoid and Avalanche Run—a Nuñez Dual Range Boost and Nuñez Tetra-Fet Drive (with custom Admission artwork), an MXR Phase 95, Catalinbread Echorec, and DigiTech HardWire DL-8 Delay/Looper. A Boss TU-3 keeps everything in tune.
Guitarist/singer Steve Brooks first got his hands around a JML Custom Guitar when Jay Lewis handbuilt a neck-through, SG-style ripper that was cleverly coined the SB. Steve always wanted a V so he commissioned the builder to create an oversized, neck-through version that’s approximately 1.25 the size of a standard model.
If you’re a loyal Torche fan, you’ll recognize this Electrical Guitar Copmany Standard as Steve Brooks’ longtime main ride that still sees plenty of stage time when the band goes through older material.
This Nuñez Annex MkII is from one of the first batches and been Brooks’ amp of choice since working on Admission. There are minimal differences between this head and the newer one Nuñez plugs into, mainly cosmetics (the company now offers more colors to not pigeonholed themselves into a specific musical genre or player), upgraded circuitry components, and an fine-tuned FX loop, but Brooks still plugs into the front of the amp.
Steve Brooks is more of a rhythm, meat-and-potatoes player and keeps an airport-friendly board. He has an MXR Carbon Copy, MXR Phase 90, and a Nuñez Tetra-Fet Drive. A Boss TU-3 keeps everything in check and a Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 2 Plus brings the noisemakers to life.
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Gibson originally launched the EB-6 model with the intention of serving consumers looking for a “tic-tac” bass sound.
The Gibson EB-6 was announced in 1959 and came into the world in 1960, not with a dual-horn body but with that of an elegant ES-335. They looked stately, with a thin, semi-hollow body, f-holes, and a sunburst finish. Our pick for this Vintage Vault column is one such first-year model, in about as original condition as you’re able to find today. “Why?” you may be asking. Well, read on....
When the EB-6 was introduced, the Bass VI was still a glimmer in Leo Fender’s eye. The real competition were the Danelectro 6-string basses that seemed to have popped up out of nowhere and were suddenly being used on lots of hit records by the likes of Elvis, Patsy Cline, and other household names. Danos like the UB-2 (introduced in ’56), the Longhorn 4623 (’58), and the Shorthorn 3612 (’58) were the earliest attempts any company made at a 6-string bass in this style: not quite a standard electric bass, not quite a guitar, nor, for that matter, quite like a baritone guitar.
The only change this vintage EB-6 features is a replacement set of Kluson tuners.
Photo by Ken Lapworth
Gibson, Fender, and others during this era would in fact call these basses “baritone guitars,” to add to our confusion today. But these vintage “baritones” were all tuned one octave below a standard guitar, with scale lengths around 30", while most modern baritones are tuned B-to-B or A-to-A and have scale lengths between 26" and 30".)
At the time, those Danelectros were instrumental to what was called the “tic-tac” bass sound of Nashville records produced by Chet Atkins, or the “click-bass” tones made out west by producer Lee Hazlewood. Gibson wanted something for this market, and the EB-6 was born.
“When the EB-6 was introduced, the Bass VI was still a glimmer in Leo Fender’s eye.”
The 30.5" scale 1960 EB-6 has a single humbucking pickup, a volume knob, a tone knob, and a small, push-button “Tone Selector Switch” that engages a treble circuit for an instant tic-tac sound. (Without engaging that switch, you get a bass-heavy tone so deep that cowboy chords will sound like a muddy mess.)
The EB-6, for better or for worse, did not unseat the Danelectros, and a November 1959 price list from Gibson hints at why: The EB-6 retailed for $340, compared to Dano price tags that ranged from $85 to $150. Only a few dozen EB-6 basses were shipped in 1960, and only 67 total are known to have been built before Gibson changed the shape to the SG style in 1962.
Most players who come across an EB-6 today think it was a response to the Fender Bass VI, but the former actually beat the latter to the market by a full year.
Photo by Ken Lapworth
It’s sad that so few were built. Sure, it was a high-end model made to achieve the novelty tic-tac sound of cheaper instruments, but in its full-voiced glory, the EB-6 has a huge potential of tones. It would sound great in our contemporary guitar era where more players are exploring baritone ranges, and where so many people got back into the Bass VI after seeing the Beatles play one in the 2021 documentary, Get Back.
It’s sadder, still, how many original-era EB-6s have been parted out in the decades since. Remember earlier when I wrote that our Vintage Vaultpick was about as original as you could find? That’s because the model’s single humbucker is a PAF, its Kluson tuners are double-line, and its knobs are identical to those on Les Paul ’Bursts. So as people repaired broken ’Bursts, converted other LPs to ’Bursts, or otherwise sought to give other Gibsons a “Golden Era” sound and look ... they often stripped these forgotten EB-6 basses for parts.
This original EB-6 is up for sale now from Reverb seller Emerald City Guitars for a $16,950 asking price at the time of writing. The only thing that isn’t original about it is a replacement set of Kluson tuners, not because its originals were stolen but just to help preserve them. (They will be included in the case.)
With so few surviving 335-style EB-6 basses, Reverb doesn’t have a ton of sales data to compare prices to. Ten years ago, a lucky buyer found a nearly original 1960 EB-6 for about $7,000. But Emerald City’s $16,950 asking price is closer to more recent examples and asking prices.
Sources: Prices on Gibson Instruments, November 1, 1959, Tony Bacon’s “Danelectro’s UB-2 and the Early Days of 6-String Basses” Reverb News article, Gruhn’s Guide to Vintage Guitars, Tom Wheeler’s American Guitars: An Illustrated History, Reverb listings and Price Guide sales data.
Originally released in the 1980s, the Victory has long been a cult favorite among guitarists for its distinctive double cutaway design and excellent upper-fret access. These new models feature flexible electronics, enhanced body contours, improved weight and balance, and an Explorer headstock shape.
A Cult Classic Made Modern
The new Victory features refined body contours, improved weight and balance, and an updated headstock shape based on the popular Gibson Explorer.
Effortless Playing
With a fast-playing SlimTaper neck profile and ebony fretboard with a compound radius, the Victory delivers low action without fret buzz everywhere on the fretboard.
Flexible Electronics
The two 80s Tribute humbucker pickups are wired to push/pull master volume and tone controls for coil splitting and inner/outer coil selection when the coils are split.
For more information, please visit gibson.com.
Gibson Victory Figured Top Electric Guitar - Iguana Burst
