Bludgeoning, beautiful, jarring, and serene are just a few of the cinematic moods conjured by this doomy, fuzz-loving husband-and-wife duo of Sarah and Mario Quintero.
When the Loch Ness Monster gets its summer blockbuster return, Spotlights should score that silver-screen comeback. Just like the mythical creature, the power trio summons up emotions that teeter from impending doom and chaotic destruction to a delicate beauty and alluring mysticism.
The band got its start just over five years ago via husband-and-wife duo Mario (guitars/synths/drums/vocals) and Sarah Quintero (bass/guitars/vocals). Often Sarah crushes like a mallet while Mario pierces like a katana—proving the couple that plays together, slays together.
Their earliest work features the pair handling all instrumentation. Mario previously was the drummer for Machines Learning, so they were able to assemble their self-released debut EP, 2014's Demonstration, then 2016's long-player Tidals, followed by 2017's Seismic (their first on Mike Patton's Ipecac Recordings). When it came time to hit the road, they would often tap drummer Josh Cooper until scheduling conflicts (in)conveniently intervened, putting Chris Enriquez on their radar. He filled in on a tour when Spotlights opened for If These Trees Could Talk and became a permanent member, lending his boom to both 2019's Love & Decay and 2020's EP We Are All Atomic. The fortified lineup have honed their punishing dynamics, making the pastoral more tranquil and the destructive more devastating.
While working on new material that will most certainly cast murky shadows and crescendo-ing crushers, Mario and Sarah virtually welcomed PG's Chris Kies into their Pittsburgh-based jam space. Inside this episode, we find out why they avoid cork-sniffing in favor of any gear that works. Mario showcases a digital-meets-analog setup that could power a SpaceX rocket, while Sarah describes and demos the elements for her bass thunderstorm. Plus, she divulges how gear swaps—especially pedals—not only keep the marriage fresh but continues enriching the band's blossoming sound.
[Brought to you by D'Addario Backline Gear Transport Pack: https://ddar.io/GigBackpack-RR]
Fender Player Stratocaster HSH
Over the last five years, Spotlights guitarist Mario Quintero has been in exploration mode. He's been testing out all sorts of gear without searching for any particular tone or goal in mind, to see what works and what doesn't. This Fender Player Stratocaster HSH has been part of that process. So far, he's enjoyed playing the Strat because of its comfortable neck and a shape that contours to his body.
The night before filming with PG, Quintero replaced the stock bridge 'bucker with a hotter Seymour Duncan SH-14 Custom 5. Quintero typically tunes to drop B and sometimes even drops the low-E string to F#. Currently, the Strat takes Ernie Ball Beefy Slinkys (.011 –.054).
Dunable Cyclops
"I'm an impulse buyer when it comes to gear," admits Mario. And one of the results of that urge was this Dunable Cyclops. It was a heavy hitter for 2019's Love and Decay.
PureSalem La Flaca
"I've never used a neck pickup on any guitar except this PureSalem La Flaca" explains Mario. "I think the way the neck pickup is slanted works well with my darker, mid-focused tone, instead of the more standard scooped-neck sound." Both the PureSalem and Dunable are laced up with D'Addario XL148 Nickel-Wound Drop C Strings (.012–.060).
1984 Marshall JCM800
Mario is pretty openminded and pragmatic in his tone quest, but this 1984 Marshall JCM800 might be his closest thing to a sacred cow. He plugs into the 50-watter's low input, cranks the pre-amp control, and barely pushes the master above one.
Marshall 1960A 4x12 Cabinet
The JCM800 hits this worn-and-torn Marshall 1960A 4x12 that's stocked with a quad of Celestion 75-watt G12T-75 speakers.
Orange Crush Pro 120
To double the dense destruction, Mario also roars through a solid-state Orange Crush Pro 120 that excels at being really loud and really clean.
Orange Crush Pro 240-watt 4x12
The Crush Pro 120 hits this trim Orange Crush Pro 240-watt 4x12 (closed back) that's packed with their proprietary Orange Voice of the World 12"s.
Mario Quintero's Pedalboard
Guitarists can be hesitant when a company rep promises simplification without sacrificing performance or tone. (Spoiler alert: We're a finnicky bunch.) But when Line 6's Eric Klein (the developer of the Helix) took in a Spotlights show and witnessed all Mario's tap dancing with MIDI triggers and laptop-queued pads and samples, he offered a streamlined, floor-based solution that could reduce Mario's multi-tasking.
So, now the brain of Mario's operation is a Line 6 Helix that not only smears his guitar with distortion, fuzz, modulation, and gobs of gain, but also interfaces with the laptop triggering pads and samples that route out to front of house. Mario's has three main objectives for his Eventide H9 (controlled by the Helix): a modulated slap delay, a huge stereo reverb, and a spooky, ring-mod 'verb. Auxiliary pedals that mind the gap are EarthQuaker Devices' Afterneath and Astral Destiny. The TC Electronic Ditto X2 handles live loops, while the Boss TU-2 Chromatic Tuner keeps his guitars in check. An Eventide PowerMax juices all his wares.
Squier Classic Vibe ’70s Precision Bass
Like Mario, Sarah has no shame in her rumble game and will use anything to rattle onlookers' fillings. During quarantine, her practical, get-the-job-done mentality eyed this Squier Classic Vibe '70s Precision Bass online. She ordered it and fell in love with the black beauty. The Squier is all stock aside from the leopard-print pickguard. Sarah goes with Ernie Ball Power Slinkys (.055 –.110). During the Rundown, she admits to hating the sound and feel of new strings, so she'll often go years without replacing them.
Orange O Bass
Her main ride for the previous four years was this Orange O Bass that has a tone that outshined the clunky, neck-diving ergonomics that would plunge the neck toward the floor when not being held up.
Because she loved its hefty, Herculean sound, Sarah taped weights on her O Bass' body to counterbalance its lopsided lean.
Orange OB1-500
Sarah used to prefer solid-state bass amps. Her longtime love was the Gallien-Krueger 400RB, but that all changed when her and Mario were opening for the Melvins. Each night they would join the sultans of sludge onstage for the closer, "Lysol." For the collective jam, Sarah plugged into Buzz's Orange OB1-500, and shortly after the tour concluded she ordered her own.
Orange OBC810 8x10
The OB1 runs into a fridge-sized Orange OBC810 8x10 that's equipped with Eminence Legend 32 speakers.
Sarah Quintero's Pedalboard
Sarah's stomp station is the main culprit for summoning Ole Nessie. She swims in the depths of distortion, fuzz, and stormy modulation. Sarah used to play with two amps (including the aforementioned 400RB), but now enlists the Line 6 HX Stomp (8x10 SV Beast setting) as her second boom box. The first pedal she ever bought is the Boss ODB-3 Bass Overdrive, and that gets used heavily in conjunction with the EarthQuaker Devices Westwood.
After checking Future of the Left, she had to approach bassist Andy "Falco" Falkous about his tone—and his secret sauce was the Way Huge Swollen Pickle. In the Rundown, Sarah mentions she changes this pedal's settings the most throughout a set, because the controls are so versatile and wide ranging.
Tbe EQD Monarch provides a darker, huskier sound than the Westwood. Next is the EQD Terminal, which provides "knotty and crunchy" sonics and shines on "Under the Earth." Then we have a pair of ZVEX fuzzes: the Woolly Mammoth and Fuzz Factory.
She likes to pair her EQD Bit Commander with the EQD Astral Destiny or H9 (reverb settings) to draw out and embellish its octave effect. Beyond that, the Astral Destiny provides atmospheric pads and the H9 unleashes drawn-out hall verbs, volume swells, envelope sweeps, and other moody tone morphings. Another modulation pedal is the EarthQuaker Aqueduct, which gets kicked on for subtle vibrato moments.
The last bit of her board provides some EQ tweaking, with the Darkglass Electronics Vintage Deluxe and EQD Tone Job. For her voice, she'll run a Boss VE-1 Vocal Echo—and a Boss TU-2 keeps all 4 strings in check. Like Mario, all her pedals come to life with the Eventide PowerMax.
The effects freaks came out this weekend for the 2024 event, and here are some of their freakiest creations.
Artists of all kinds have found Philadelphia a famously supportive and enthusiastic creative environment, with audiences hungry for the weirdest and wildest. Guitar pedal makers are no exception, and the Philadelphia area is home to one of the hottest burgeoning pedal-building communities. This weekend, the Philly Pedal Party, hosted at rock club Johnny Brenda’s, brought out a crew of pedal-makers showing off everything from the fiercest fuzzes to the deepest reaches of knob-twirling modulation.
Organizer Bram Johnson, a recent transplant who moved to town about a year ago after living in London and New York City, says Philly has “such a vibrant music scene. There’s so many cool builders and so much happening.” While bigger guitar shows come through the area and bring people from much farther and and wider, Johnson was inspired to curate a show that just focused on pedal builders from the region.
Fuzzrocious Delivers Fun at Your Feet
Fuzzrocious’ Ryan Ratajski displayed some of his latest work.
Fuzzrocious’ colorful tone manglers have been a long-time standby in the Philly pedal scene. Owner Ryan Ratajski had some of their latest works on hand in the form of a line of re-designed pedals in smaller enclosures with an innovative elevated third footswitch. Located at the top of the pedal and positioned high enough to avoid accidental knob clicks or twists, it’s a control for various options, depending on the effect.
All hail the Cat King!
In the case of their new Cat King, the momentary switch activates a feedback control, providing a gateway to interactive noise generation that you probably won’t want to stop messing with. For this line, priced at just $180, Ratajski promises, “I’m gonna try and put as many cool things in a small box and not charge you more for it.”
Feature-ful Fuzz
The DTF, Smalls, and Awkward Mustache, from Voltic.
Voltic Electronic Devices’ dynamic, feature-ful fuzzes are becoming standbys on local pedalboards. Their flagship is the DTF (dual-transistor fuzz) that owner and fuzz-master John-Anthony DeMaio explains is like a Harmonic Percolator going into a MOSFET boost. Anyone stopping by the Voltic table got a taste of their recent Smalls Fuzz—inspired by the Sam Ash Fuzz and the Analog Man Astrotone—and a coming-soon smaller version of the 3-knob, 2-switch Awkward Mustache op-amp fuzz. “I try to do a one-off for every show,” says DeMaio, and he delivered with a Ram’s Head build (with hip bowling bowl knobs) that was up for grabs.
Weird and Wobbly from Woolly
Woolly had the latest from his Champion Leccy line on diplay.
Champion Leccy owner Woolly has created a world of lo-fi weirding modules that are full of surprises. The Skitzy borrows elements from his chorus/tape-delay combo platter the Woozy and fits it into a dual reverb, dosing one side with pitch and warble controls, the other with tremolo and phase-cancelation tremolo, and a host of other options. On his vibrant, colorful board, he also offered a sneak peek at his not-yet-released Kilter, an effects-loop modulator that promises a world of oddball options.
One for Steve Albini
Vaderin’s fuzz-friendly board delivers some familiar imagery on various flavors of grit, from the Big Muff-inspired Super Ram—which includes a useful gate control—to their Steve Albini-inspired Harmonic Percolator offering, covered in X’s.
Bonus Guitar!
This Sturner Hazzard has an ash body with a maple neck and fretboard.
Sure, it was a pedal show, but local builder James Sturner lives in the neighborhood, so he had some of his angular Sturner Guitars on hand. Here’s his Hazzard, loaded with Guitar Fetish pickups and a preamp
Nile Rodgers Put Rhythm Up Front (and Cory Wong Listened)
Funk-guitar wiz and Wong Notes host Cory Wong flips the script and sits in the 100 Guitarists guest chair.
Funk-guitar wiz and Wong Noteshost Cory Wong flips the script and sits in the 100 Guitarists guest chair. Wong cleared his schedule to talk about one Nile Rodgers’ work on the Halo 2 soundtrack. We were lucky that got him to return our call, but we did move on quickly.
Wong is a scholar of all things rhythm guitar—and that means all things Nile. We talk about how the Hitmaker voices his progressions—“You hear Nile play a chord progression … and it’s that song”—and the role of rhythm guitar in general. Cory delivers his list of best Nile performances, tips for direct guitar sounds, and most surprising Nile collabs.
Ever wonder what it would sound like if Nile Rodgers produced David Lee Roth covering Willie Nelson? Give a listen and drop us a know when you check it out for yourself.
This episode is sponsored by JAM Pedals.
More info: https://www.jampedals.com.
A menu of vintage-voiced, modulated, harmonic, and reverse delays makes an intriguing smorgasbord of echo textures.
An imaginative array of wild to rich and familiar echo textures. Darker EQ profile lends authenticity to tape-like effects. Smart, if somewhat cramped, control layout.
Harmonic delay mode can be cloying at most settings.
$249
Diamond Dark Cloud
diamondpedals.com
The art of using and building delays is, at this point, a discipline populated by a thousand little cults. Vintage-minded analogists, digital micromanagers, and seekers of chaos all live under this strange umbrella. What’s refreshing about Diamond’s Dark Cloud is the way it spans so many points on the echo spectrum without 30 push-buttons and an enclosure the size of a cigar box.
It does many of the things detail-minded sound crafters demand of their delays, like tap tempo and creating precise subdivisions fast. And while it’s a digital delay, it seems very carefully designed and EQ’d to feel very analog, vintage, patinated, and moody. Indeed, in many situations it proves worthy of its name.
Crafted for Controlled Chaos
The sturdy, Canada-built Dark Cloud is a nice study in design efficiency. While there are enough tightly packed controls and switches to make some players nervous, the Dark Cloud does a lot with four knobs, a mini-toggle, and two footswitches. The toggle doubles as a mode selector when you click down and a subdivision switch when you click up. Footswitches serve the function of tapping out tempo, instantaneously or momentarily doubling delay rate, or setting up the harmonic delay mode for octaves or fifths. And though the four knobs for delay time, mix, feedback, and modulation rate are ordinarily enough, each functions quite differently depending on the mode, making the Dark Cloud deceptively simple.
Softly Spoken Expansiveness
Tape mode is, needless to say, well suited for the Dark Cloud’s darkish tone profile. Repeats drift and dissolve into mist as the echo signal degrades, and in traditional sorts of tape delay settings (short-to-medium-length delays, a 50/50 mix, and anywhere from two to five repeats), the Dark Cloud maintains a responsiveness and a not-too-overbearing presence that are simultaneously spacey and subdued. But the tape setting is also fantastic at more extreme settings. Fast repeats mated to speedy modulations and maxed-out feedback levels yield results that sound like Joe Meek wrestling a Space Echo, and you can create many accelerating/decelerating oscillation effects that suggest the old Roland tape delay standard-bearer if you engage actively and in real time with the controls.
“Fast repeats mated to speedy modulations and maxed-out feedback levels yield results that sound like Joe Meek wrestling a Space Echo.”
Harmonic and octave-up effects paired with reverbs and delay have a way of generating polarizing effects. I am generally on the side of those who find that a little goes a long way, and that too much is a saccharine tone nightmare that evokes being eaten alive by Smurfs. If you want to be devoured by wee cannibals, that’s your business, and the Dark Cloud will go there, particularly if you run wild with the feedback control. But the pedal also makes space for mellower applications. I had great luck with slapback delay times, fast decay, moderate mix levels and modulation rates in the ballpark of a Leslie’s whirl. In this setting, the harmonic delay took on the feel of an old Vox or Farfisa organ tracking my chord melody. If you stray from the Duane Eddy zone on the fretboard, single-note melodies tend to bring out the harmonic delay’s more cloying side. However, if you dig the shimmering qualities associated with these effects, you’ll find the Dark Cloud is a rich source for them, especially if you tinker with the harmonizing fifth setting on the pedal.
The Dark Cloud’s reverse delay mode is the one where the dark and cloudy facets of its personality become really intriguing. Like the tape mode, it’s a great match for drive effects from mellow boosts to gnarly fuzz—whether you situate it upstream or downstream from the pedal. But using the effect in clean settings reveals a lot about how the pedal’s EQ emphasis and duskier repeats make reverse echoes more seamless, organic, and something closer to the effect of reverse tape, especially when you keep the modulation and feedback to a minimum. In this way, the Dark Cloud’s reverse delay betters that of many of its peers and makes echoes sound less like they were grafted on as an afterthought. The reverse-echo textures can also range to more mangled extremes. If you’re a fan of Daniel Lanois’ warped-echo-and-melting-tweed-Deluxe sounds, adding fuzzy gain and attenuating your guitar tone generates a spiraling, hazy distorted signal that sounds a little like a reel of 2" coated in dust and molasses. (There’s an audio sample of that kind of thing attached to the online version of this review.)
The Verdict
If I’d had my way, I would have nixed the Dark Cloud’s harmonic delay mode, stuck with the very nice tape and reverse modes, and charged a little less. Still, a lot of players will love the many strange high-pitched and pixilated sounds available via the harmonic mode. And together, the three modes add up to a uniquely varied echo unit that can see a player through many moods—from deeply psychedelic to hyperactively effervescent.
Keith Urban's new tour fires up in May 2025 and will feature Chase Matthew, Alana Springsteen and Karley Scott Collins.
Dates will go on sale starting this Friday, December 13th at 10:00AM local time. Information about the “HIGH AND ALIVE WORLD TOUR” is available at www.keithurban.com with more North American dates to be announced in the coming months.
“Playing live is what I live to do,” said Urban. “Looking out from a stage and seeing people singing, forgetting about all the stress in their lives, cutting loose, and feeling ALIVE - that’s what it’s about for me. Lots of hits, new songs, things we won’t even think about until we’re onstage - and loads of guitar. We’re gonna make this tour the best night of your life!”
Twenty-four #1 songs to choose from, hits like “Long Hot Summer,” “Days Go By,” “Blue Ain’t Your Color,” “Somewhere In My Car,” “The Fighter,” “Wasted Time,” “Somebody Like You,” “One Too Many,” and new songs from his just released 11th studio album HIGH, and a night of music becomes not only celebratory, but communal.
KEITH URBAN’S HIGH AND ALIVE WORLD TOUR (U.S.)
May 22nd Orange Beach, AL - The Wharf Amphitheater
May 23rd Alpharetta, GA - Ameris Bank Amphitheatre
May 24th Charleston, SC - Credit One Stadium
May 30th Charlotte, NC - PNC Music Pavilion
May 31st Raleigh, NC - Coastal Credit Union Music Park Raleigh
June 12th Gilford, NH - BankNH Pavilion
June 13th Holmdel, NJ - PNC Bank Arts Center
June 14th Wantagh, NY - Northwell at Jones Beach Theater
June 19thColumbia, MD -Merriweather Post Pavilion
June 22nd Clarkston, MI - Pine Knob Music Theatre
June 26th Cincinnati, OH - Riverbend Music Center
June 27th Cuyahoga Falls, OH - Blossom Music Center
June 28th Noblesville, IN - Ruoff Music Center
July 17th Denver, CO – Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre
July 18th Salt Lake City, UT - Utah First Credit Union Amphitheatre
July 19th Nampa, ID - Ford Idaho Center Amphitheater
July 24th TBA
July 26th Inglewood, CA - Intuit Dome
September 25th Chicago, IL - United Center
September 26th TBA
September 27th Omaha, NE - CHI Health Center
October 2nd Hershey, PA - Giant Center
October 3rd Uncasville, CT - Mohegan Sun Arena
October 4th Bristow, VA - Jiffy Lube Live
October 9th Fort Worth, TX - Dickies Arena
October 11th Houston, TX - The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion presented by
Huntsman
October 16th Greenville, SC - Bon Secours Wellness Arena
October 17th Nashville, TN - Bridgestone Arena