Talent in the raw thrives, just a thumb click away.
Personal experience confirms some of what these eggheads are preaching. I've worked as a music director in television for the past 15 years. In the last five years, roughly one-third of the charts I've written were IāVāVIāIV chord patterns. Don't get me wrong. I'm not criticizing the wildly talented artists I work with. I'm just saying there's an undeniable trend in modern hit songs.
I just completed my ninth year leading the band for the CMT Music Awards and can say with some pride that my stage is always track-free, truly live live music. It's kind of a big deal, because a lot of so called ālive" music you see in a concert or a broadcast is accompanied by prerecorded tracks. Modern recordings are deeply layered with armies of guitars, loops, background vocals, and seductive ear candy. There's a lot of pressure to sound equally big live, so the solution is to add tracks to your live instruments. In Nashville, we call it Hillbilly Vanilli. A track gives you perfection, but perfection is inhuman, and eventually we're going to want something natural we can relate to.
There's a Japanese concept called wabi-sabi that celebrates the imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete beauty in our naturally imperfect world. Let me put wabi-sabi in terms you'll understand: A 1954 Les Paul goldtop is prized because of (not despite) its cracked finish and green patina. Wabi-sabi is not auto-tuned, quantized, Photoshopped, or Botoxed. Wabi-sabi is about nature, and nature is unpredictableānot linear or symmetrical, but simultaneously growing and decaying. In our current culture that wants to straighten every crooked line, we're mesmerized more than ever by nature doing its own thing.
Maybe that's why, for the past year, I've discovered more music on Instagram than anywhere else. Instagram is a great source for truly live, un-retouched performances. I'm sure there are some uptight artists who employ a hair and makeup team, an engineer, auto-tune, and the full vanity production in every Insta-post, but most people probably approach it like I do: put on some pants, pick up a guitar, play, and let the notes fall where they may.
When I'm sitting around the house playing guitar and my infant daughter starts dancing along, Amy films it and posts it on the spot. When I'm on tour and our drummer Donnie Marple starts banging out a warm-up on a green-room couch, I'll join in, film, and post. When I'm deep into a 4 a.m. buzz mixing hippie pedal steel and uncontrollable analog delay with a recording of Marty Stuart or John Mayer, I post it before I can sober up and have the good sense to keep it to myself. Replete with clams, my stuff is so wabi-sabi you couldn't find a straight line or right angle in it to save your life. Yet, I find it strangely gratifying rather than embarrassing.
Speaking of John Mayer, Instagram is where I learned that when he's not playing music, he's unwinding by playing music, working up Bill Evans-style piano. Joe Bonamassa posts videos several times a week that feel like he's my friend, sitting right across from me, blowing out these killer lines while demonstrating the tonal nuances of another gem from a recent guitar safari. Check out @John5official to see the Telemaster slaying it in his pajamas.
But besides world-renowned musicians, it's inspiring to discover players like Mateus Asato, a 23-year-old Brazilian who is a master of the one-minute arrangement. Every post has a structure, with a beginning, middle, and end, and such perfect economy of notes they feel like musical haiku. Asato absolutely shreds, but his arrangements and melodic sensibilities will crush your soul with their beauty. There's Sweden's Emil Ernebro, who effortlessly blows through complex, funky fingerstyle songs perfectly in step with his racing metronome. I learn something every time I watch a post from my amigos Andy Wood, J.D. Simo, and Greg Kochāall virtuosos on everything from metal to bluegrass. There are compilation accounts like @ambientnotes and @pickupjazz, which scour Instagram and repost the best. I discover killer players every week that make me wonder why people keep hiring me with all this talent out there.
For decades, there were gatekeepers like record labels, radio, and TV that decided what we got to listen to. Now we can see and hear music in all its ragged, wabi-sabi glory from anybody with access to a cellphone and one bar of connectivity. Enjoy the imperfection while you can. Nothing lasts.
Nashville''s living legend keeps his fingers movin''.
|
Reggie Young was born in Caruthersville, Missouri in 1936, but was raised in Osceola, Arkansas ā right next to Dyess, Johnny Cashās hometown. Though the two never met during their childhood, they would connect in the music industry later on. Reggie took up guitar at the age of 14, taught by his father, a classical Hawaiian guitar player. A year after Reggie started playing, the Young family moved to Memphis. It was during this time when the rich ā50s mix of Memphis ā B.B. Kingās Delta blues and Chet Atkinsā Nashville country ā began to influence Reggieās style.
In 1955, four years after moving to Memphis, 19-year-old Reggie joined his first band, Eddie Bond and the Stompers. While most guitaristsā first bands do little more than fiddle around in the garage, Eddie Bond and the Stompers was an established rockabilly group who scored a hit on the charts in 1956 with āRockinā Daddy.ā Reggieās career had officially started; the band signed with Mercury Records and set out touring with a slew of big stars like Roy Orbison, Carl Perkins, Johnny Horton and Johnny Cash. Reggie then hooked up with the Bill Black Combo and ended up opening for the Beatles on their first U.S. tour in 1964. During this time he also started to play his first studio sessions for Fame Studios and Royal Studios before spending some time in New York City working and playing for Atlantic Records.
When Reggie returned to Memphis he helped form the famous Memphis Boys, which would become the house band of American Studios. Reggieās position in this band gave him the opportunity to play with nearly every major recording artist of the time ā Booker T. & The MGās, The Box Tops, Neil Diamond, Bob Dylan, Paul Anka, Merle Haggard, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Dean Martin to name a few ā a complete listing would require several pages. Among these greats was the king himself, Elvis Presley. Reggie started playing on Elvis records in 1968 with songs like, āIn the Ghettoā and āSuspicious Minds.ā Though the Memphis Boys were offered to tour with Elvis, time limits prevented it.
After working for six months in Atlanta, Reggie finally settled in Nashville in 1973 to enter the local studio scene. Just before moving, Reggie recorded on Danny OāKeefeās āGood Time Charlieās Got the Blues.ā Because of his special sound and technique on the tune, Reggie found many doors open when he got to Nashville. Reggie quickly became an integral member of the Nashville studio scene, playing with J.J. Cale, Donovan, Cat Stevens, George Strait, Billy Swan, B.B. King, Paul Simon, Merle Haggard and others.
Today, Reggie, at 70 years old, is still one of the most-booked Nashville session guitarists and his schedule remains filled. In 2005, he recorded on Merle Haggardās album Chicago Winds and married fellow musician Jenny Hollowell. He still tours worldwide for Elvis-related shows with original members of the Memphis Boys and continues to team up with the Highwaymen for charity events.
Amazingly, between all of these activities, I had the chance to meet Reggie and his wife Jenny after an Elvis show in Belgium.
With exactly 50 years in the business, you must have seen a lot of things ā what are some of your favorite memories?
Without any doubt, it has to be my time in Memphis. We played on so many hit records that I canāt even count them and, gosh, every time it was something really special for me. And, of course, my work with Elvis Presley ā heās the king and he will always be, you know.
What was it like working with Elvis Presley?
To be honest, it was nothing special for us when they told us that we would play for Elvis Presley. We played with all the top stars of the time, and Elvis hadnāt had any hits for a while and didnāt have an album on the charts. As he stepped into the studio though ā¦ boy, I never met any other person with such charisma ā it was very special for me. Elvis was totally relaxed and we listened to music and talked a lot before we started to record. It was a lot of fun to work with him.
Who would you would like to play with that you havenāt?
Without any doubt, it would have to be Les Paul ā that would be great.
āboy, I never met any other person with such charisma [Elvis] ā it was very special for me.ā |
Would you be able to share a funny story from the studio or the road with our readers?
When I played with the Highwaymen, we started back up after a longer break with a gig in New York Cityās Central Park. During the show, everyone is on stage and during Johnny Cashās part I had a total blackout. Normally Johnny walked to the mike and said āHello, Iām Johnny Cash,ā and that was the sign for me to start with the intro from āFolsom Prison Blues.ā This evening, Johnny walked over to the mike, stood there and said nothing and I waited and waited. After some time, Johnny turned in my direction and nodded at me as a sign to start the intro. I was so confused about the situation that I forgot the intro! I just remembered that the intro was on the deep strings and I played something totally different there just to get the show started. Luckily, the drummer joined me somewhere in this crazy intro and Johnny started singing. After the song, Waylon Jennings walked over to me and made some jokes about my freestyle intro and started to laugh like I never heard someone laugh before. After a while, I thought he might fall off of the stage from laughing so hard.
I think, like all session musicians, Iām my own worst critic. I often think, āOh my God, they will never hire you again.ā Recently, I was listening to the radio in my kitchen, and there was a song with an extended guitar solo in the middle. While listening I thought, āNot bad, but I could play it better.ā Then I realized that I had recorded the solo myself some years ago.
When you book a studio session, do you know what you are going to play beforehand?
Not really, sometimes I have a rough draft, but no details. Thatās the main reason why I always have to carry all my equipment to any session ā you never know what the artist or the producer wants. When you play for someone regularly itās a lot easier; normally there is a demo tape and a kind of ātimetableā for the song, and the rest develops by itself during the session.
How many sessions do you play in a typical week?
It varies. Earlier in my career, I played up to 20 sessions a week, for months without a break. Now, I like it a little more relaxed, though I am still working a lot. I remember the days when I didnāt know that there was a Nashville outside of the studios, but I leave that for the younger guys now.
Do you think that the Nashville studio scene has changed during the last few years?
Yes, absolutely. Before, it was much easier for a newcomer to enter the scene, but today only a handful of players are doing most of the session jobs in Nashville.
Whatās your take on the younger session players?
A lot of them are incredibly talented guitar players ā Brent Mason and Brad Paisley are really geniuses for example.
ātoday only a handful of players are doing most of the session jobs in Nashville.ā |
For most of them you are a personal hero ā how do you feel about this?
Itās really a big compliment for me, and Iām really happy that I could encourage some of them to start playing music.
What do you think is the key to your enormous success?
Thatās a good question that I canāt answer! I never planned to become famous ā I just walked to the studios each day to do the work they paid me for, and I did it with a smile on my face because I really love my work. Maybe I was in the right place at the right time, or I just knew the right people. Maybe a little bit of talent played a role as well.
Reggie, I noticed that you used a very minimal setup tonight. Why is that?
Well, sometimes less is more. I donāt need much on stage for a good sound, so I said goodbye to all this rack stuff some time ago. Normally I use a normal Fender ā52 vintage reissue Telecaster with an added middle pickup, a Fender silverface Twin Reverb and my pedalboard with some standard stompboxes, nothing fancy. All of this is connected with some good George Lās cables and thatās it.
āWhen I come home from the studio and want to relax, I play guitar.ā |
Do you use more gear in the studio?
Believe it or not, yes and no! For studio sessions, I use my trusty old vintage guitars that I donāt want to bring out on stage and a different amp ā a Fender blackface Deluxe Reverb. I still donāt use a whole lot of rack stuff in the studio, though, only my normal pedalboard that I use on stage. Thatās really a general trend that most studio players are following.
What are your main studio guitars?
For the most part, I really only use two guitars, a 1957 two-tone sunburst Fender Stratocaster and a black 1969 Fender Telecaster. The Strat is almost original stock but I have Bill Lawrence pickups installed ā they are fantastic. The back of the headstock is signed by B.B. King; I recorded with him on his Love Me Tender album. My Tele is more unique; it has three pickups, special electronics and a Glaser B&G bender. In the bridge position I use a Lindy Fralin pickup, in the middle a Seymour Duncan Hot Rail Blade and in the neck a Bill Lawrence pickup, with the normal Telecaster 3-way switch to dial in the different combinations. The stock tone pot is replaced with a blend control for the middle pickup. At one point, I had a Gibson mini-humbucker and active EMG pickups in the guitar, and the additional switch on the control blade has been disconnected ever since. In addition to these two, I also sometimes use a Jerry Jones guitar-bass that is tuned one octave below a normal guitar to double some passages to get a fatter sound.
Do you ever play lapsteel like your father?
No, my dad played classical Hawaiian music on his lapsteel, songs like āSweet Leilani,ā and similar stuff, but no country. To be honest, I never tried it.
What about ampsā¦?
I really like the Fender Deluxe Reverb model, and I own several of them. I use some blackface models and a silverface model that Techstar in Nashville converted to blackface specs. The Deluxe Reverb is fantastic and really is a great reference for clean Fender tone. Iāve played these amps for a long time now, and know them inside out. For a while I also played some Hullett and Matchless amps, but I came back to the Deluxe Reverb.
Like I said, I donāt use the big racks anymore. In the ā80s, a recording session without them was unimaginable. Today I use a simple pedalboard that Dave Wilkerson from Techstar built for me. It is loaded with an Ernie Ball volume pedal, a Cry Baby 5350 wah, Boss DD-3 Digital Delay, MXR DynaComp, Boss GE-7 Equalizer, Boss Chromatic Tuner, Voodoo Lab Tremolo and Sparkle Drive, and last but not least, the good, old T.C. Electronic Stereo Chorus. These are all permanently installed on the board and powered by a Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 2. Everything is stock ā no modifications at all. My favorite stompbox is the Boss GE-7 equalizer ā that little box is fantastic and I can get any sound I want out of it.
Whatās your experience with boutique pedals?
I really donāt know what is so special about them. I donāt need any; I use my time to make music while others are busy discussing boutique stuff.
Do you have any endorsements?
No, none. I have everything I need, and Iām happy with it. I had an endorsement with Fender for some special string sets, but they donāt offer the strings anymore.
Can you describe them, and what do you use now?
Really, there was nothing too special about the Fender strings, they were more or less a normal nine set with a .0095 instead of a .009 top E string. Fender offered this set for some time, but itās not available anymore. Now, I play DāAddario XL Nickel Wound Super Light Plus strings with the gauges .0095-.044.
I really like this set for bending ā it helps me stay better in tune. Iām bending the strings very heavily and a .0095 string has more resistance than a standard .009. I use these strings on all of my guitars, and I like normal action, not too low and not too high.
Do you still own your first guitar?
No, it was an old National that my father gave me on Christmas in 1950. I exchanged it for another guitar but I donāt own that guitar anymore either.
How many guitars do you own?
I donāt know exactly, but I donāt have too many. If I donāt play a guitar for a while, Iāll either give it away or sell it.
So youāre not a collector?
No, absolutely not. Guitars are made to play, not to collect.
Are you into vintage instruments?
Both of my main axes are vintage guitars ā my Strat from 1957 and my Tele from 1969. I donāt know if it is the age or not, but both have fantastic tone, much better than any other guitar I have ever played. Both guitars are slightly modified though. I know thatās almost a sacrilege, but first and foremost they are working horses for me. Naturally I stored all the original nuts and bolts, but no true collector would even think of modifying these. You know, if I could find a guitar today thatās better than my old ones, I wouldnāt hesitate to buy the new one and sell my old ones. I really donāt care if itās new or vintage; itās the sound that matters.
Youāre working on your first solo project, right?
Thatās right, and itās a lot of fun. My wife Jenny plays fiddle and cello, and together we wrote and arranged some nice songs that we are recording now. Itās not a country album ā more of a mixture of classical music and Latin with some modern elements. It has no electrical instruments on it; itās completely unplugged. Itās hard to describe ā I wish I had a guitar in my hands to show you some things! Weāre hoping to finish it soon.
Do you two play together a lot?
Yes, every possible minute. Our whole life is filled with music ā itās my job, my hobby, my passion. When I come home from the studio and want to relax, I play guitar. I really enjoy playing together with Jenny; she is a fantastic musician. Jenny and I got married in April 2005 and sheās the love of my life. Sheās my wife and my best friend at the same time, which is great.
Are you friends with your session colleagues outside of the studio?
Not directly, we moved to the countryside some time ago and itās hard to drive all the way to the city just to have dinner or some beers. Still, weāve all known each other for a very long time and naturally, there are some friendships with guys like Bill Hullett and Willie Nelson. Iāve always tried to separate my private life from my job, but it hasnāt always worked.
Touring with the Memphis Boys all over Europe; did you ever think about doing a solo tour?
No, never. I donāt have time for one, and the Memphis Boys are kind of family for me. Weāve known each other for so long, weāre really good friends. I would miss them too much on a solo tour!
Did you ever think about retiring?
Thatās a joke, right? Absolutely not, I still have my health, Iām feeling great and my musical career is still in progress ā I have no time to retire!
|
|
Old and new Boogies, we get the scoop from Petaluma.
|
Fast forward to the ā90s; the first half of the decade was all about the Mark IV. Numerous players from were using them for everything from jazz to rock, digging the flexibility of three channels and the extensive EQ options. But the big news was that the metal boys jumped on it hard. Metallica, in particular, made good use of the cascading gain stages found in the Mark IICs and Mark IVs. Once again, Boogie found themselves known for one amp.
Later in the same decade a new amp design took hold for the Petaluma-based company: the Rectifier series. The Dual Rectifier became the grunge amp. Flip on SNL, and if a band originally from Seattle was playing, chances are it was through a Mesa. A big proponent of the Dual Rectifier was Kim Thayil of Soundgarden, using Dual Recs both live and in the studio. At that time, when you said āBoogie,ā or better yet āMesa,āchances are you meant āRectifier.ā
The end result has been that if you havenāt paid close attention, you might think Boogie has produced only three amp models over the past 40 years. The reality is they''ve made plenty of other amps, both past and present, that break out of the high-gain, tons-of- EQ-options mold, such as the Maverick series in the ā90s, and the Lone Star and Stiletto series today. We were fortunate enough to be able to talk shop with Doug West and Randall Smith of Mesa Boogie, and find out what is in store for the amp faithful.
Mesa Boogie has changed considerably since the āDog Houseā days, yet the new Express ampsā small stature recalls nothing more than the original Boogie. Was that intentional?
Doug: Yeah, I would say itās intentional in that we wanted the Express series to be super-portable. We have bigger amps like the Road King and the Roadster and all these amps that have much bigger cabinets for their 1x12s. Weāre leaning back to getting something more portable, a little more balanced sounding. Thereās been a trend toward bass heavy combos lately, and, for the last five years or so, it seems like everyone has been making the biggest 1x12 they can. We were just trying to get back to not only portability, but also the sound and balance, where the bass isnāt so prevalent.
On the original Boogies, the cabinets were made with 3/4ā birch, and the Express is made out of 5/8ā, so it has a more breathy sound than the original. You know, the original cabinets were like a cannon shot. They come right at you and donāt spread as much sonically, whereas the Express definitely spreads a little bit more.
Could you explain how the Duo-Class power amp works?
Basically, when itās in full power position, itās running Class A/B and pentode, and when you switch down to the 5-watt position, itās running Class A single-ended. It turns into a really sweet-sounding, but inefficient amp which is great for clipping the power section.
Was the Duo-Class design the impetus for the recent Lone Star redesign?
Yeah, we wanted to include that on the Lone Star too, because we figured that it would be a little strange for our most affordable line to have a feature that our higher-end line didnāt have. You know, weāre always trying to find stuff here; always sleuthing to find new tones. When we have a feature like that we try to make sure we can redo any amp that doesnāt have it, although with the Road King we didnāt really feel like it was appropriate, because youāve got so many power selections and itās so big. We decided that guys who are buying Road Kings donāt really want to go down to 5 watts, you know? We wonāt put it on the Rectifier line, but we thought customers of the Lone Star series would be the type of guys who would really appreciate it.
Yeah, we were trying to make it easier for people to use, and itās just such a cool way to do it. You donāt have the flexibility of the five-band, but you have the ease. We did something similar with the TriAxis 17 years ago, where you have all of the EQ inductors, and theyāre all basically tuned to a different frequency. Youāre able to roll it up and down, and put in the amount of EQ that you want at that preset curve. You would think that that would work for only one style of music, but it seems to work for clean as well as it does for high-gain sounds.
Parametric EQs are great, but you can paint yourself into a corner quickly if you arenāt careful.
Exactly, and people have a tendency to go overboard with it.
Just because you can, you will?
I approach it from this point of view: EQ is like putting spice in food. Some people will turn on the contour and play and then turn it off and say, āThe amp sounds flat,ā and thatās definitely a case of EQ hangover. Most amps throughout the years have never had that type of EQ circuit in them. Ours have, but the majority of amplifiers that everyone agrees sound great donāt have extensive EQ options, so we encourage people to try the amp first without the contour, then gently roll the contour on to find where it sounds good to them ā their sweet spot. If you just go in there and turn the contour to ten, then the amp will sound broken when itās off. Itās a lot like food, really. No one wants to eat something spicy, with tons of garlic, and then go back to a plate of scrambled eggs, without hot sauce.
Sure, the flavor, or basic tone, can get lost.
Yeah, itās like, hey, thereās nothing wrong with the eggs; you just blew your taste buds out on the spicy stuff.
So what does the Roadster bring to the Rectifier series lineup?
We started to see a lot of guys that didnāt play the heavier styles of music using the three channel Solo heads, so we wanted to bridge that gap and give those guys a way to get those lead sounds in addition to a really great clean sound and some reverb. It seems like itās worked, because Roadster sales have just gone crazy. It was the three channel Recs for 15 years, and thatās been our best seller, but now it seems like the Roadsters are actually starting to take some of those players away ā like itās bridged the gap. We gave it the Lone Starās clean sound. Thatās a really different clean sound than the Duals and Triples have; more traditional, paying homage to Leoās designs.
Iād say that it was aimed at guys that grew up playing British amps, but with an attempt to lift the veil off of the clean sounds ā to get them experiencing big, blooming cleans.
You know, itās been the same thing throughout the years; we love typical British sounds but we were really frustrated with not being able to go from an EL34-type sound to a clean sound that we thought sounded right. So once again, it was an attempt to bridge a gap where we saw one.
How has the response to that amp been so far?
Itās good, but itās slow, like we thought it would be. You donāt get guys off something that theyāre used to ā itās like trying to give a Harley rider a Hayabusa. A guy used to driving a Ferrari doesnāt want a Porsche, because he isnāt used to it. But itās starting to gain momentum. Thatās what I always see, though. Randy gets worried sometimes, and heās like, āOh dude, theyāre not a smash hit!ā and I always say, āWait, man. You gotta wait and be patient.ā It takes a while for street-level confidence to build. When we first launched the Rectifiers, I would say it was a year and a half before they kicked in. We were actually shooting for the hair bands of the late ā80s, and we missed that completely and created this new style of amp. Weāre currently 16 years into its success.
And that totally turned into the grunge amp.
Exactly, and that wasnāt even what we were aiming for at all. Itās just this weird thing that happened. Now itās really appreciated by a lot of the goth and death metal bands, so I think itās that same thing where you just have to be really patient.
You know, I have to say that we blow it sometimes in that weāre always going for tone first, and there have been two versions of the Stiletto. The first one we all loved and then we shared it with a bunch of guys, and about half of the guys loved them, and the other half said, āTheyāre not hardcore British enough yet.ā So we changed it after only a year, and that kind of threw a wrench in the works.
The current version we made a little more hard-hitting and tighter in the upper mids, and we changed the Fluid Drive mode a bit, too, to be more like the rest of the amp. In the first version, it was really different than the rest of the amp ā it was much more Boogie-esque. Itās funny though, because now there are a few people out there looking for what we call the āstage ones.ā
I think as guitar players weāre all the same; nothing matters until it isnāt being made anymore. You guys need to bring stuff out for like three months and then quit making it.
[laughs] Randy and I joke all the time that the best way to make something successful is to quit making it.
Andy Timmons is one of the most visible; heās just freaking out over it. Al Di Meolaās using an Ace, Tom Wisniewski of MXPX, Marcos Curiel of POD, Skip Dorsey and Mike Scott from Justin Timberlakeās band, and of course, Mike also played with Prince. Heās a really great guitar player. Also, Captain Kirk Douglas from the Roots has been playing them. Once again, thatās the amp finding a use in a style of music that we didnāt really design it for. We were thinking more classic rock and rock sounds, and these guys using them for funk and, of course, rock solo sounds, but that just speaks to the versatility of the amp.
Randy Smith is the founder, and spiritual leader at Boogie. We were fortunate enough to talk with him and learn some unique insights into what makes him and the company tick.
Is your entire guitar amp line up now fixed bias?
Randy: Almost, the Lone Star Special is the one amp thatās cathode biased, meaning it doesnāt have a fixed negative-voltage bias supply. Most people call cathode-biasing Class A because it sounds sexier. When asked to explain this, and the difference with Class AB, it ran to about 30 fun-filled pages available on our web site (mesaboogie. com). But there is another common meaning for fixed bias, and thatās when the negative-voltage supply is not user-adjustable, and we do that too. All our negative bias supplies are fixed at the factory, that is, theyāre wired to supply the correct voltage, and never need adjustment.
The tolex aftertaste! I really didnāt like putting on the vinyl covering. I used a hot-melt, hide glue, heated in a simple double-boiler over a hot plate, and brushed the shit on. After doing that for a few hours I felt like the fumes had settled on my tongue. Gave it a sticky, disgusting taste and the worst thing was, I could picture that crap just lying there. Brushing your teeth didnāt remove it; luckily vodka did.
For a little more effort, and much more pleasant work, I could produce a unique, hardwood cab with dovetailed joints and a hand-rubbed oil finish. I used all different kinds of hardwood that I picked out at White Brothers over in Oakland, and I carried the boards back in my old 1959 Mercedes sedan. Unfortunately, that ripped up the headliner and gouged up the top of the dashboard. I havenāt forgotten their motto: āThe first hundred years are the hardest!ā Weāll see! The wicker caning for the grille was some remnant I found in theback of my fatherās old shop and I started using it when Lee Michaels said he wanted his amps to look at home in Hawaii. Leeās cool, and we still hang out once in a while.
Randy, youāve been responsible for so many of the music industryās innovations throughout Boogieās history. Where do you get the inspiration to keep coming up with things like the Duo-Class power amp design?
Who knows? Some guys can think up dozens of great melodies. Iām usually just trying to solve a problem or fulfill a wish. It was our Deacon, Steve Mueller, who thought it would be cool if the Lone Star Special could switch from four EL84s to two, to one. After I gave him some lengthy answer on why thatās not possible ā due to the iron in the output transformer needing to be a different shape ā I got to thinking. I remember I was swimming when the light came on, and I realized how I could fool the transformer into thinking it was still working push-pull, even though it was running single-ended. By the time I got out of the water, I had it pretty much worked out and went and tried it. And it seemed to work, especially since I could add or delete the parts that fooled the transformer. You could definitely see, and hear, that it solved the gapped-core problem.
After being at this for more than 40 years, do you still get pumped about going to work every day?
I donāt really go to work, and it doesnāt really seem like work no matter where it is. I more-or-less live the design process. First, I spend most of my time at home so I donāt have to go anywhere, though I do enjoy going down to the shop a couple afternoons a week to hang with the guys. But I think if youāre going to get good at doing something, youāve got to do more than just work at it. Youāve got to dig deeper and live it, so Iām the portable designer. My pencils and graph paper are always there; Iām always in the creative design process. If youāre going to live it, youād better love it, ācause itās going to become your life!
Iāve been very fortunate to stumble onto something I still find interesting thatās provided a nice life not only for me, but also the people I work with. The vibe at Boogie is amazing; I donāt know of anyone who doesnāt seem to be enjoying themselves. I mean, it is a job, I know that, but compared to whatever else is out there, weāre all pretty darn happy ā even the guys putting on the tolex! Theyāre so good at it, itās amazing. Whenever I see them, especially if Iām taking someone through on a tour, I make a big deal about their work and their workmanship because itās some of the hardest work physically, as well as the most demanding in terms of craftsmanship. And all day long theyāre kicking ass, knocking out cabs with great pride. Of course, they donāt have to brush on the glue any more, so they donāt suffer from tolex aftertaste!
Is there a holy grail of amp design that you refer to? A specific design that you think is perfect for its particular application?
I like the last part of that question, āā¦a design thatās perfect for its application.ā Yeah. That is the goal for anything cool, like the perfect melody, or the perfect chord ā itās got to be in the right context to be perfect, yeah? Iād say a Vox AC30 is pretty close. Itās totally limited, and not versatile at all. It does one thing and one thing only, but if thatās what you want, it does it perfectly. It has defined a musical context which it perfectly fulfills, and itās easy to identify because itās capable of nothing else. Of course, I came up wrenching on Fenders, and those Vox amps were weird nightmares to work on, just bizarre; needlessly costly and complicated in a way only the British could produce. Meanwhile, the circuit itself looks to have been restricted to the absolute miserly minimum in terms of parts and cost. In their day they werenāt so well regarded, not in California anyway.
Itās easier when youāre talking guitars. Strats, Teles and Les Pauls perfectly define and fulfill the expectations for a guitar. Thatās why theyāve become the classics they are. With amps, itās a little trickier. Because of the variety of venues and styles musicians are going to encounter, thereās no single old amp thatās always going to be right, particularly an AC30! That desire for sonic versatility ā no, it was actually the endless complaints about the limitations of classic tweed and blackface amps back in their day, thatās what got me searching for what turned out to be the holy grail of gain. Once that door was opened, all kinds of things became possible. But there are so many other elements to work with, preamp and power amps... weāve got more possibilities now than ever.
So, have you been granted the patent for the Duo-Class design? Could you walk us through that process?
Yeah, sure. The patent was issued rather quickly, number 7,173,488. It should be a real strong one because itās very clear cut; itās how to get an amp to switch between push-pull and single-ended.
For those interested, patents are comprise of two main parts, the Specification and the Claims.The Spec part describes the history, background and application of the invention and provides both a general and a detailed description of the invention itself in plain language. The Claims are written in an arcane legal language that hopefully describes the invention in general and generic terms. Properly written, the Claims will be broad enough to anticipate minor variations so that infringers canāt use them to circumvent the patent. But if those Claims are written too broadly, they open the door to prior art that infringers will cite to invalidate the patent, even if the prior art has nothing to do with the invention. So patent litigation, and I know a bit about this, often becomes a contest between the Claims and the Specification. I always write the Specifications part myself because it saves money and forces me to think really clearly. After all, I do know more about something Iāve discovered or invented than some lawyer would. That only makes sense, and Iād advise anyone considering a patent to read in the same field and follow the format in writing their own Specification.
But the Claims, my God! I recall reading the Claims part of my first patent ā 4,211,893 ā and I couldnāt even understand it! That was after the writer who was the retired head of the Amplifier Art division of the Patent Office said that my Spec was the best-written one heād seen! Unfortunately, he drew the Claims narrowly enough that it wasnāt that hard to circumvent, but also broadly enough that it did open the door to a prior art that bore no relationship whatever! He was a real genius. Of course, he kept telling me the problem with the invention was āit will distort!ā That should have been my first clue.
Maybe, in retrospect, it was a good thing. If that had have been a bullet-proof patent, weād be the only ones building channel switching amplifiers with clean and lead sounds, and weād still be battling over it. Bottom line ā patents have some value, but not as much as you want. The funny thing is itās like catching someone inside your house, stealing your shit. When you challenge them, they say they have every right to because first, theyāre not stealing it, second, itās not your shit, and third, itās not really your house because someone else has a house like this one so the shit inside isnāt yours. What youāve got to understand most of all is that defense lawyers are paid to lie on behalf of their clients. They will sit across the table from you and tell you with a straight face what everybody knows is simply not true! Now I always write a few of the Claims myself, that way there is at least something in there that makes basic, real sense and describes the invention. Weāve actually got a stellar record defending our patents and trademarks, but the process sucks because youāre often forced to deal with people of limited integrity.
You have mass distribution, your amps are widely available, yet Mesa Boogie is still considered by many to be a boutique amp. Is that what you were shooting for?
Yeah, although I didnāt know it at the time. Itās been said we originated the boutique amp concept, and I think thatās true, but I was just trying to make something hip and keep from starving. My goal was to make the best, not the most. Leave that battle to the others. It still seems like a good idea. Great high-performance tube gear is hard to make. You canāt just stamp it out mindlessly unless you de-tune it first, which is what the big boys usually do. But I did lay down two basic principles which weāve followed since day one: first, hand-build the best amplifier you can, and second, treat each person the way youād like to be treated. I think that no matter what the endeavor, those two principles will hold you in good stead, and almost guarantee some level of success.
Next, what level of success are you satisfied with? Some people are never going to be satisfied. Even when they rule kingdoms, theyāll want the one next door, too. Iāve always been happy just by doing something creative and interesting that fulfills those two principles. Also, since I started out totally broke, the money has always seemed to take care of itself, just through treating people right.
But I also think if grabbing the big bucks is your goal, youād better be ready to time your exit, ācause youāre going to be selling that boat down the river ā youāll want to get off before it heads over the falls. I saw that happen in the old days with both Gibson and Fender, and it seemed like a real shame. The big corporate mentality ruined the work of geniuses. So, you can whore it out, or you can treat it like a child, and grow with it; which do you want to do? For me, the journey remains interesting and satisfying in itself, and Iām not looking for an end point.
Want to catch up on your Boogie History? Check out our visual timeline.
Mesa Boogie
mesaboogie.com