The Nashville-based power player uses classic-style guitars and amps to create big tones that echo from the past to the future.
Our last Rundown with J.D. Simo was eight years ago. Since then, the songwriter, guitarist, and producer has worked with Jack White, Tommy Emmanuel, Luther Dickinson, Dave Cobb, Blackberry Smoke, and even been a friend in Grateful Dead founder Phil Lesh’s band Phil and Friends. Currently, Simo is promoting his most unique, original, and raw album yet, called Mind Control, where he explores Afrobeat grooves and Mississippi trance blues. Simo invited John Bohlinger and the PG team to his studio to look at some new and old friends with strings, cones, and attitude.
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Hail to the Chief
JD Simo’s No. 1 remains his beloved and battered 1962 Gibson ES-335. It’s had a few changes since his last Rundown. Note JFK on the back of its headstock! Nashville star luthier Joe Glaser modded the neck tone control to knock it out of phase. During quarantine, Simo reinstalled the original Bigsby bridge with nylon saddles. This, and all of Simo’s guitars, use Stringjoy strings (.010 sets, when tuned to standard) and are picked with Jim Dunlop tortoise mediums.
Trifecta of Cool
The backside of the 335's headstock reveals some classic stamps.
Picks of the Litter
Here you see JD's Jim Dunlop tortoise medium pick (for guitar) and a Dave Grisman DAWG pick (for mandolin).
Jazzmaster Just in Name
It began life as a mid-’60s Jazzmaster body. Fellow Nashville-based guitarist George Bradfute added a MusiKraft neck and refinished and rewired this 6-string with a humbucker and S-style pickups from Vintage Inspired Pickups, out of Beverly, Massachusetts. There is a phase switch on the tone control.
Headstock Shock
A close look at this axe’s headstock logo reveals that … well, this offset has a unique make and model name. The Asscaster stays tuned down to B with .014–.064 strings.
From the Deeps
This Echopark Exner Tavares in a seemingly luminescent finish is made from white pine sinker wood. It features a gold-foil neck pickup, a ’70s Fender Wide Range bridge pickup, and a Chris Swope Guitars bridge. The Exner stays tuned down a whole step, with .011–.049 strings.
Down in the Hollows
Here’s an all-stock 1952 Gibson ES-5 in standard tuning and strung with flatwound .012—.056 strings, for vintage tone. This model debuted in 1949 as an electric version of Gibson’s then-popular acoustic L-5.
Lab Rat
This Gibson Custom Shop Murphy Lab ’64 SG Standard features OX4 pickups, hand-wound by Mark Stow in Oxford, England. The finish is the work of Gibson’s famed in-house aging and replication expert, Tom Murphy.
Humble Hotshot
Simo’s going for heavy acoustic vibe with this 1965 Silvertone H165. It stays tuned down to C# and is amplified with a LR Baggs M80 pickup.
Mondo Mando
This 1966 Kay Airline mandolin is hipper than most, with the company’s cool Kelvinator-style logo on its headstock. It’s all original, including the Jimmy Reed-style pickup and two-tone binding.
Mr. Natural
J-50 is the Gibson company’s designation for its natural-finish J-45 workhorses—the guitar that helped define modern folk music. This 1961 J-50 features a 1963 DeArmond RHC-B soundhole pickup and stays strung with nickel bronze .012–.056 strings.
Goodbye Marshalls
Depending on the scenario, Simo currently uses one, or a combination of, these amps: a 1964 Ampeg Gemini I with a Weber ceramic-magnet ferromax speaker, a 1949 Alamo Model 3 (lower right), a 1972 Fender silver-panel Deluxe Reverb converted to black-panel specs (also with a Weber speaker), and a Pre CBS Amps Clifford 18W made by Zack Allen of Nashville’s Carter Guitars. The latter is essentially a 7591-output-tube Princeton Reverb clone and has a Weber speaker. Simo runs with his amps with an AmpRX Brown Box power attenuator.
At the Stomp Post
Simo’s very simple pedalboard includes a 1972 Dallas Arbiter Fuzz Face, a 1973 Vox Cry Baby with a Chase tone pot, a rehoused vintage Kay fuzz, a Strymon El Capistan, and a Fender trem/reverb Switch. XAct Tone Solutions made the board and its battery box. Simo also uses Divine Noise Cables.
The Southern rockers take no prisoners with their twin-guitar attack.
Charlie Starr covers vocals and his share of guitar abuse both live and in the studio. Starr splits up riff duties between a modest collection of guitars. His main axe is a battle-scarred 1956 Les Paul Jr. with the original P-90 pickup.
Premier Guitar hung with Charlie Starr and Paul Jackson of Blackberry Smoke just a few hours before they blew the roof off of Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium. The boys shared their recipe for Southern rock tone that’s as thick as grits and gravy. Special thanks to the band’s tech, David “Doc” Oswalt, for details.
A new family of point-to-point, handwired amps from Echopark.
Los Angeles, California (March 11, 2015) -- Echopark Guitars has unveiled a stunning new preview of the Clarence Amp from their new division of Echopark Amplifiers.
Echopark Guitars have become an industry standard for many of the most well known and prolific artists in the world of rock 'n roll today. Owner and luthier Gabriel Currie has built the company based on his talent and unique aesthetic for high craft materials of the finest quality, based on a modern/vintage philosophy and the lust for the perfect tone.
In late 2014, Echopark Amplifiers was created to follow the tradition established in the Echopark Guitars company.
Now, in 2015, Echopark Amplifiers will release a small family of all tube, point to point hand wired amplifiers. Based on a few of their favorite iconic designs, these specialized tools for inspiration will feature tube vibratos in two models, a solid Douglas fir cabinet construction, 100% USA electronic components, and military specification appointments.
All models have been designed and built by Gabriel Currie and long time amplifier designer, builder and world-class tech Eric Bernstorff in the Echopark Guitars shop in Los Angeles.
The Clarence Amp will be on stages beginning in April 2015 with Jimmy Vivino, Queens of the Stone Age's Troy Van Leeuwen, Blackberry Smoke's Charlie Starr, Greg Leisz, and Joe Perry.
Here is a sneak preview of what is to come in 2015 from Echopark Amplifiers USA. Be sure to visit the Echopark Guitars website and social media locations for more info in the coming weeks!
Watch the company's video demo:
For more information:
Echopark