The Third Man Records songstress shows off the lovely Fender and Gretsch "girls" that are her go-tos for eerie garage-rock and psych-pop tones.
While Olivia Jean used a Fender Player Jaguar for recording most of 2019’s Night Owl, this lovely, pink-sparkle Fender Parallel Universe Volume II Maverick Dorado will do the road work when touring returns. The gifted reissue features a custom paint job—mirroring the Night Owl cover—was done by Fender’s Jay Nelson and the build was overseen by Chip Ellis at the Fender Custom Shop. And she calls this beauty the “Holly Grail.” (The original run of the Fender Electric XII-esque oddball was limited to 1969 and it was then referred as the Fender Custom.)
She plays in standard tuning, uses Ernie Ball Regular Slinkys (.010–.046) on all her guitars, and plucks with Dunlop Nylon 1mm picks.
Talk about weird, here’s the Maverick Dorado headstock that shadows the Electric XII silhouette sporting just six tuners.
“Betty” is a Gretsch G6128T-GH George Harrison Signature Duo Jet Electric that was a gift from Jack White. He gave her and bassist Ruby Rogers (Thunder Jet Bass) matching instruments before the band toured in support of 2011’s The Black Belles. She asserts it has a beefier, bassy sound than the Maverick Dorado.
This Fender Hot Rod DeVille 2x12 has been a staple in her touring rig for years.
Olivia is singing and playing throughout the set, so tap dancing on her pedalboard isn’t an option. However, her simplistic stomp station serves up plenty of flavorings. Her two always-on pedals are the Electro-Harmonix Holy Grail and MXR Sugar Drive. The Third Man Bumble Fuzz (a gift from White) stings for soloing and is accompanied with the Boss NS-2 Noise Suppressor for lowing the buzz. The pair of tools she has on the board is the TC Helicon Mic Mechanic (allowing her to control reverb levels on her vocals) and TC Electronic Wiretap (for recording ideas/riffs). Everything is powered by the T-Rex Fuel Tank Classic and her guitars are kept in check with a Korg Pitchblack Chromatic Tuner.
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The Schaffer Replica: Storm
The Schaffer Replica Storm is an all-analog combination of Optical Limiter+Harmonic Clipping Circuit+EQ Expansion+Boost+Line Buffer derived from a 70s wireless unit AC/DC and others used as an effect. Over 50 pros use this unique device to achieve percussive attack, copious harmonics and singing sustain.
My Bloody Valentine has a short discography made up of just a few albums and EPs that span decades. Meticulous as he seems to be, Shields creates texture out of his layers of tracks and loops and fuzz throughout, creating a music that needs to be felt as much as it needs to be heard.
We go to the ultimate source as Billy Corgan leaves us a message about how it felt to hear those sounds in the pre-internet days, when rather than pull up a YouTube clip, your imagination would have to guide you toward a tone.
But not everyone is an MBV fan, so this conversation is part superfan hype and part debate. We can all agree Kevin Shields is a guitarists you should know, but we can’t all agree what to do with that information.
