Chris Shiflett Strikes Back!
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This edition of Dipped In Tone has a great guest—Foo Fighters’ Chris Shiflett, but … wait! There’s more! Hosts Rhett Shull and Zach Broyles tackle a pressing question: What band has recorded the most songs that you—and they—first learned on guitar? The Beatles, Foo Fighters, Metallica, Nirvana, Zeppelin, the Stones....? Who gets your vote? Also, Zach opens the mail, and it’s a box of Hotwound Dual-Rail single-coil-sized humbuckers for his 1982 Strat (with a vintage Floyd Rose) from Dipped In Tone sponsors Stew-Mac. (If you’re looking to update, mod, or build a pedal, guitar, or amp, check out stewmac.com/dippedintone for a 10-percent discount.) More important, Shiflett steps up to the plate to respond to Rhett and Zach’s “aggressive critique” of his recent Premier Guitar Rig Rundown. But before that, he joins the host in dipping a rig—submitted by courageous DIT Patreon member Rob F., who has been playing a little over a year. His rig: a hot-rodded and Plecked Squier Affinity, an Orange Dark Micro 20, two 2x12 Zilla cabs, and a pedalboard with a JHSJ Series Fuzz, a Wampler Tumnus Deluxe, a PolyTune, and a Lehle splitter to switch between Orange and Joyo heads, plus a JHS attenuator. The verdict? Listen to find out. What else? Chris tells a story about his older brother’s full stack, which became his first band’s PA. Then it’s time for him to share his thoughts on Zach and Rhett’s critique. And to talk about the new Foo Fighters rig he’s having developed—with MIDI-triggered scene changes, an off-stage switcher, and more goodies. He also talks about his current 4x12 Vox cabinets, and how one got a hole burned in its grille cloth by the Foos’ stage lasers. He also discusses about his trust issues, the Strymon Deco, his classic Les Paul Custom, vintage gear, his solo rig, and his upcoming solo album recorded in Nashville … and takes questions from listeners. Be on the watch for the next DIT in early January.
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![Jerry Cantrell Rig Rundown [2024]](https://www.premierguitar.com/media-library/youtube.jpg?id=53714787&width=600&height=600&quality=85&coordinates=0%2C0%2C560%2C0)
Peterson StroboStomp Mini Pedal Tuner
| The StroboStomp Mini delivers the unmatched 0.1 cent tuning accuracy of all authentic Peterson Strobe Tuners in a mini pedal tuner format. We designed StroboStomp Mini around the most requested features from our customers: a mini form factor, and top mounted jacks. |
But by gosh, if delay—and its sister effect, reverb—haven’t always been perfect for the music I like to write and play. Which brings us to the Fishman EchoBack Mini Delay. The EchoBack, along with the standard delay controls of level, time, and repeats—as well as a tap tempo—has a toggle to alternate between analog, tape, and digital-delay voices.
I hooked up my Washburn Bella Tono Elegante to my Blues Junior to give the EchoBack a test run. We love a medium delay—my usual preference for delay settings is to have both level and repeats at 1 o’clock, and time at 11 o’clock. With the analog voice switched on, I heard some pillowy warmth in the processed signal, as well as a familiar degradation with each repeat—until their wake gave way to a gentle, distant, crinkly ticking. Staying on analog and adjusting delay time down to 8 o’clock and repeats to about 11:30, some cozy slapback enveloped my rendition of Johnny Marr’s part to “Back to the Old House,” conjuring up thoughts of Elvis trapped in a small chamber, but in a good way. It sounded indubitably authentic. The one drawback of analog delay for me, generally, is that its roundness can feel a bit under water at times.
Switching over to tape, that pillowy warmth evaporated, and in its place came a very clear replication of my tone—but with just a bit of the highs shaved off the top. With the settings at the medium-length mode listed above, I could see the empty, glass hall the pedal sent my sound bouncing down. I heard several pronounced pings of repeats before the signal fully faded out. On slapback settings (time at 8 o’clock, repeats at 11:30), rather than Elvis, I heard something more along the lines of a honky-tonk mic in a glass bottle. Still relatively crystalline, which actually was not my favorite. I like a bit more crinkle—so maybe analog is my bag....“That pillowy warmth evaporated, and in its place came a very clear, pristine replication of my tone—but with just a bit of the highs shaved off the top.”
Next up, digital. Here we have the brightest voice, and as expected, the most faithful repeats. They ping just a few times before shifting to a smooth, single undulating wave. When putting its slapback hat on, I found that the effect was a bit less alluring than I’d observed for the analog and tape voices. This is where the digital delay felt a little too sterile, with the cleanly preserved signal feeling a bit unnatural.
All in all, I dig the EchoBack for its replications of analog and tape voices, and ultimately, lean towards tape. While it’s nice having the digital delay there as an option, it feels a bit too clean when meddling with time of any given length. Nonetheless, this is surely a handy stomp for any acoustic player looking to venture into the land of live effects, or for those who are already there.
