PG’s John Bohlinger met up with Jeremy DeBardi, a.k.a. Steel Beans, at the Cannery in Nashville. A one-man-band, DeBardi plays guitar and drums at the same time, and does it through a pair of 1965 Silvertones and two vintage amps run in stereo. Have a look at some quick highlights below, and tune into the new Rig Rundown for all the details.
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Cheap Thrills
A real Strat or Les Paul was out of reach when he was a teenager, so DeBardi picked up a used 1965 Silvertone at a Guitar Center for under $300 and found it had the sound of every ‘50s and ‘60s record he wanted. He owns five now. The original barely plays—it’s “fretted out”—but he toured with it anyway, carrying it into taco joints and sleeping next to it in hotels. Two of the five have been refinished by a painter in California, including this one in white.
Birthday Present
After a show in Boise, a man came up and gave DeBardi this Silvertone, which had been hanging unplayed on his wall at home. At that point DeBardi owned exactly one. Pulling the pickguard to prep it for paint turned up the factory stamp: April 9, 1965, his birthday. It’s also loaded with MojoTone Johnny Winter Firebird pickups.
Bright, Not Shrill
DeBardi played a Twin reissue for a decade and found the bright switch painful with the amp cranked. This 1968 Super Reverb gets bright too, but he calls it bright in a Freddie King way—sharp enough to grab your ear without turning shrill, like an old record.
Sick Trade
The other half of the stereo pair is a 1965 Silvertone, which DeBardi got by trading away a broken Dual Rectifier that a friend had abandoned in his storage unit after somebody threw up in it. He likes its midrange, and the two amps have been going out together since the Tenacious D tour.
Steel Beans’ Pedalboard
The chain opens with a Source Audio C4 Synth and a Peterson StroboStomp, then an EHX Pitch Fork, MXR Duke of Tone, MXR Carbon Copy, Aclam Dr. Robert, MXR Sugar Drive, and Fulltone PlimSoul. Fuzz comes from a one-off Way Huge pedal Jeorge Tripps sent him—“number 25 or something” of however many exist—and a Daredevil Chicago Rat. A Way Huge Supa-Puss, Source Audio Pathways, TC Electronic Mimiq, MXR Textures, and Okko Cocaine Compressor/Preamp round things out.
