Guitars:
Paul plays his Ibanez Fireman signature on the road. This particular guitar was the factory proof that he approved for the production model. Gilbert told us that he spent a lot of time working on the neck shape and neck joint so that it was thick enough to get a good tone, but still playable. The guitar is a set-neck with DiMarzio Injectors with a DiMarzio Area 67 in the middle. Gilbert says the single-coils have introduced him to using the Tone control on his guitar in a way he never did with humbuckers: rolled back for warmth and dialed up for a "snarly" tone. Gilbert uses Ernie Ball RPS strings in 11s, but was using 10s when we met up with him as he'd recently taken a two week break from playing. His acoustic is a Taylor 710 with a Feedback Buster.
Amps:
Gilbert uses a duo of Marshall Vintage Modern heads. For this tour, he also brought out his Marshall 2061x head which he's running into two Marshall 4x12s. He bridges both channels with a patch cable and cranks it all the way up. He used the Vintage Modern heads on his last few albums.
Pedals:
Gilbert uses a Sennheiser wireless system that routes into the Boss TU-2 Tuner, Boss CS-3 Compressor (only for "Just Take My Heart"), Ibanez Airplane Flanger ("toggle between two crazies"), and MXR "script logo" Phase 90 (used subtly on almost every solo) into a Lehle P-Split, which splits the signal between the pedals/amp and an HBE CPR compressor into a DI into vocalist Eric Martin's monitors so he can hear a clean sound. After the splitter is a Majik Box Fuzz Universe, Way Huge Green Rhino (in a wild card spot that he switches out regularly), and a Fulltone Choralflange. For his acoustic rig, Gilbert uses a coily cable into a Boss TU-2 and another HBE CPR compressor.
Diamond Pedals Dark Cloud
True to the Diamond design ethos of our dBBD’s hybrid analog architecture, Dark Cloud unlocks a new frontier in delay technology which was once deemed unobtainable by standard BBD circuit.
Powered by an embedded system, the Dark Cloud seamlessly blends input and output signals, crafting Tape, Harmonic, and Reverse delays with the organic warmth of analog companding and the meticulous precision of digital control.
Where analog warmth meets digital precision, the Dark Cloud redefines delay effects to create a pedal like no other
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.
