Recorded direct into Focusrite Scarlet 2i4 into Garageband.
0:00 - Effects off.
0:18 - Onboard reverb at 50 percent
0:35 - Onboard delay set at 50 percent
0:52 - Onboard chorus at 50 percent
RatingsPros:Smart design. Excellent playability. Onboard effects, even unplugged. Nice gig bag. Cons: Non-traditional design is not for all. Slippery when sitting down. No onboard tuner. Street: $1,399 Lava Music Lava Me Pro lavamusic.com | Tones:  Playability: Build/Design:  Value: |
I love talking tonewoods and the history of traditional lutherie, but I’m also a tech nerd and conservationist who has long followed the evolution of carbon-fiber instruments. And I’m even more enthused with what’s possible today, after some time with the Lava Me Pro. A stand-out feature—beyond its obvious visuals—is the single-piece, injection-molded body/neck design, which utilizes aluminum and Lava Music’s proprietary AirSonic material. The playability is excellent thanks to the Plek’d fretboard and fast (albeit different feeling) neck. With the slick, Ovation-esque back and the pear-ish-like shape of the body, it did take some getting used to in a sitting position, but it was quite comfortable strapped up. According to Lava Music, the guitar is “weatherproof,” and impervious to extreme (or non-extreme) changes in temperature and humidity.
Unplugged, the Lava Me Pro is a cannon. Its rich, deep, and loud lows blend nicely (while still remaining solitary) with the ringing highs and clear mids that hold it all together. The onboard rechargeable L2 Pro preamp—co-designed with L.R. Baggs—provides a menu of effects, including a natural-sounding reverb, chorus, and tap-tempo delay. And they’re all on tap unplugged. The preamp also manages the built-in body mic and piezo system that can be blended to taste via the mix control. When I did plug into an acoustic amp, the electronics were super quiet and feedback was pretty much a non-issue. The Lava Me Pro is a loaded, well-constructed, and easy playing guitar with some fine tones living inside. It isn’t exactly inexpensive, but its price tag is certainly compelling when compared to other carbon-fiber options out there.
Test Gear: Orange Crush Acoustic 30, Focusrite Scarlett 2i4
Michael Trent and Cary Ann Hearst have been making music as Shovels & Rope since 2008. The husband-and-wife duo from South Carolina specialize in rootsy, bluesy rock, Americana, and alt-country, but they don’t confine themselves to traditional two-piece arrangements. They switch off on vocal, guitar, percussion, and synth duty throughout their shows, orchestrating a full-band ruckus with all available limbs.
Their seventh full-length, Something Is Working Up Above My Head, released in September last year, and while touring in support of it, they stopped at Nashville’s Brooklyn Bowl in late February. PG’s John Bohlinger caught up with Trent before the gig to see what tools he and Hearst use to maintain their musical juggling act.
Brought to you by D’Addario.Black Bird
Trent’s not a guitar snob: Generally speaking, he plays whatever he can get his hands on. While playing Eddie Vedder’s Ohana Fest, someone loaned him this Gretsch Black Falcon, and he fell in love with it. He likes its size compared to the broader White Falcon. It’s also the band’s only electric, so if it goes down, it’s back to acoustic. Hearst takes turns on it, too.
Trent loads the heaviest strings he can onto it, which is a set of .013s. It lives in standard tuning.
Ol' Faithful
As Trent explains, he and Hearst have done some DIY decorating on this beautiful Gibson J-45—it’s adorned with sweat droplets, stains, and fingernail dust. It runs direct to the venue’s front-of-house system with an LR Baggs pickup. This one is strung with Martin heavy or medium gauge strings; lighter ones are too prone to snapping under Trent’s heavy picking hand (which holds a Dunlop Max-Grip .88 mm pick). And it rolls around in an Enki tour case.
On Call
These second-stringers—a Loar archtop and an LR Baggs-equipped Recording King—are on hand in case of broken strings or other malfunctions.
Need for Tweed
Trent doesn’t trust amps with too many knobs, so this tweed Fender Blues Junior does the trick. It can get fairly loud, so there’s a Universal Audio OX Amp Top Box on hand to tame it for some stages.
Shovels & Rope's Pedalboard
Because Trent and Hearst trade off bass, guitar, keys, and percussion duties, all four of their limbs are active through the set. Whoever is on guitars works this board, with an MXR Blue Box, Electro-Harmonix Nano Big Muff, EarthQuaker Devices Hummingbird, and Boss OC-5, plus a pair of Walrus Canvas Tuners for the electric and acoustic. Utility boxes on the board include a Walrus Canvas Passive Re-Amp, Radial J48, Livewire ABY1, and a Mesa Stowaway input buffer.
A Roland PK-5 MIDI controller, operated by foot, sits on the lower edge of the board. It controls the board for “Thing 2,” one of two MicroKORG synths onstage.
Thing 1 and Thing 2
There’s no one backstage helping Hearst and Trent cook up all their racket; they handle every sound themselves, manually. During the first few sets of a tour, you’re liable to see some headaches, like forgetting to switch synth patches during a song, but eventually they hit a rhythm.
Affectionately given Seuss-ian nicknames, this pair of microKORGs handles bass notes through the set, among other things, via the foot-controlled PK5. “Thing 1” is set up at the drum station, and runs through a board with an EHX Nano Big Muff, EHX Bass9, EHX Nano Holy Grail, and a Radial Pro DI. A Walrus Aetos keeps them all powered up.
The board for “Thing 2,” beside the guitar amps, includes an EHX Mel9 and Bass9 powered by a Truetone 1 SPOT Pro, plus a Radial ProD2.
