Carefully chosen pedals and a vintage laptop become "a poor-man's Kemper," enabling the Atlanta quartet to bridge psychedelia, post-hardcore, and four-on-the-floor rock.
Musicāand guitarāare therapeutic. The songs we write and riffs we play help reduce the pain, alleviate the stress, and produce some positivity in our lives. Microwave's singer/guitarist/lyricist Nathan Hardy has been using the studio and stage as his leather couch for nearly 10 years.
Stovall, in 2014, saw him question his Mormon missionary upbringing. Two years later, Much Love focused on realities versus the romance of the rock 'n' roll lifestyle. And 2019's Death Is a Warm Blanket is a dark, heavier, raging deep dive into his nihilistic thoughts. All three albums are honest, coarse evaluations of the pushing and pulling in Hardy's head and heart.
Musically, the band has matured alongside Hardy's contemplative subject matter. Stovall and Much Love harness the teeter-totter dynamics mastered by Nirvana and also felt in Microwave's post-hardcore contemporaries like early Citizen and Turnover.
While their loudest, most aggressive tendencies were unleashed in Death Is a Warm Blanket, Microwave's melodies and hooks can still be sticky and sweet as honey. Finally able to tour in support of that album, Microwave packed Nashville's Mercy Lounge on October 15. Just after soundcheck, Hardy and guitarist Travis Hill introduced PG to their favorite battle axes, walked us through their Odd Couple pedalboards, and Hill explained how an outdated laptop and trial version of Logic Pro provides a universal "poor man's Kemper" for guitars and bass.
[Brought to you by D'Addario XPND Pedalboard: https://www.daddario.com/XPNDRR]
Classic Cruiser
Travis Hill took just one guitar with him during Microwave's fall U.S. tourāhis beloved early 2000s GibsonĀ Les Paul Classic 1960 reissue. (A guitar he swears he'll never sell.) The wine red beaut is completely stock including its 496R and 500T humbuckers. It takes Ernie Ball 2215 Nickel Skinny Top/Heavy Bottom strings (.010ā.052).
Logic-al Logistics
The band practices in Atlanta using the Overloud plug-in on Pro Tools, and they're accustomed to its amp tones. Nathan wanted to travel with Kempers, but Travis suggested he could run guitars and bass through a free, bundled Slate version of Overloud via a trial version of Logic Pro and an old Focusrite Saffire Pro. Bass has one track, Nathan has two, and Travis has three with two going to FOH and one hitting his onstage cab for monitoring and feedback.
I Gotta Be Heard
While most of Hill's tone gets pumped through the PA and into his in-ear monitors, he still does require stage noise for live monitoring and feedback. He takes out the Orange Rockerverb 50 combo (bypassing its circuitry) and treats it like an extension cab. He prefers the open-back design and hasn't touched the stock Celestion Vintage 30s.
Organized Filth
The majority of Travis' tone comes from here. And at a quick glance you have two takeaways: He loves grimy gain (see the top row) and keeps a tidy workspace. His Ibanez TS9 Tube Screamer is always on. ("It's just a slight push, but you notice it when it's not there.") The other top-row terrorizers are a Fulltone OCD, Fuzzrocious Cat Tail, Way Huge Swollen Pickle, Fuzzrocious Demon King, Walrus Audio Iron Horse, and, off to the side, an EarthQuaker Devices Data Corrupter. Anything that includes repeats, modulation, and clean sounds is supplied by the Boss GT-1000CORE. For maximum control, he has a Boss ES-8 Switching System and Boss EV-30 Dual Expression pedal.
Addendum Effects
Off Travis' main stomp station is an auxiliary board that holds a RapcoHorizon Straightline Passive Direct Box and an Electro-Harmonix 22500 Dual Stereo Looper that keeps some pre-recorded tracks.
Go For the Gold!
Frontman and Microwave cofounder Nathan Hardy unsuspectedly strolled into Atlanta's Earthshaking Music and walked out with this Rivolta Guitars Mondata II HB finished in a marvelous capo gold. The used score still has its original Rivolta "Brevetto" PAF-style humbuckers. Other highlights include a mahogany bodyāwith a raised center block Ć la a Firebirdāand a maple neck paired with a pau ferro fretboard.
Baritone Bruiser
Microwave's 2019 album Death Is a Warm Blanket requires some beefy bari parts, so Hardy found this Fender Blacktop Baritone Telecaster that originally started life in an HSS format. When he bought it, the previous owner had swapped in a set of TV Jones Filter'Trons. To better fit the crisp heaviness Microwave heats the stage with, Hardy had a tech friend drop in a set of EMG 81/85s. Nathan employs Ernie Ball 2220 Power Slinkys (.011ā.048).
Nothing Stays Forever
If Travis Hill's pedalboard is Felix Unger, then Hardy's has to be Oscar Madison. Nathan admits in the Rundown that everything on his board has an expiration date. He loves swapping in and out stomps, chasing perfect pedal pairings. The current construct of his tone-tweaking platform harbors some powerfully paranormal boxesāspecifically the Gamechanger Audio Plasma (high-voltage distortion pedal) and the Hologram Electronics Dream Sequence (sequencer, envelope shaper, pitch shifter, sampler, and more). The rest of the pedals are fairly standard: Boss BF-3 Flanger, DigiTech Whammy, Ibanez TS Mini Tube Screamer, EarthQuaker Devices Gray Channel, Greer Amps Super Hornet, Boss PH-3 Phase Shifter, Boss DD-500 Digital Delay, Boss GE-7 Equalizer, and TC Electronic Mimiq. The pair of guitars are kept in check by the Boss TU-2 Chromatic Tuner and a Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 2 Plus juices the pedals.
Singing Stomps
Hardy hits his voice with some effects from the Line 6 DL4, Electro-Harmonix Small Clone, and Pro Co RAT.
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Ernie Ball, the worldās leading manufacturer of premium guitar strings and accessories, proudly announces the launch of the all-new Earthwood Bell Bronze acoustic guitar strings. Developed in close collaboration with Grammy Award-winning guitarist JohnMayer, Bell Bronze strings are engineered to meet Mayerās exacting performance standards, offering players a bold new voice for their acoustic guitars.Crafted using a proprietary alloy inspired by the metals traditionally found in bells and cymbals, Earthwood Bell Bronze strings deliver a uniquely rich, full-bodied tone with enhanced clarity, harmonic content, and projectionāmaking them the most sonically complex acoustic strings in the Ernie Ball lineup to date.
āEarthwood Bell Bronze strings are a giant leap forward in tone, playability, and durability. Theyāre great in any musical setting but really shine when played solo. Thereās an orchestral quality to them.ā -John Mayer
Product Features:
- Developed in collaboration with John Mayer
- Big, bold sound
- Inspired by alloys used for bells and cymbals
- Increased resonance with improved projection and sustain
- Patent-pending alloy unique to Ernie Ball stringsHow is Bell Bronze different?
- Richer and fuller sound than 80/20 and Phosphor Bronze without sounding dark
- Similar top end to 80/20 Bronze with richer low end than Phosphor Bronze
Milkmanās Jerry Garcia-style JG-40 combo.
Grateful Dead-inspired gear from Milkman and Scarlet Fire helps to keep the guitaristās sound alive.
Guitar players wanting to catch the Grateful Deadās particular lightning in a bottle exist along a spectrum. Some are content to take inspiration from Jerry Garciaās playing but make their own way regarding guitar choice and signal path. Others strive to emulate Garciaās sonic decisions down to the most minor details and create signal paths as close to Jerryās as possible. In recent years, an ecosystem of gear has developed around fostering Jerry Garciaās electric tone, including everything from guitars, amps, and stompboxes to on-board preamps and speakers.
Entire books about the Grateful Deadās gear have been written, so we canāt cover it all here. Garcia tinkered with all facets of his sound from about 1971 until 1978, when his signal path reached stability. By then, his On-Board Effects Loopāan innovation he developed to control how much signal reached his effectsāwas dialed in, his backline firm, and his choice of effects pedals solidified. Even then, adjustments were made, especially when MIDI arrived or when technology like in-ear monitoring was used. Here are some basics.
Scarlet Fireās recreation of Garciaās Wolf, originally built by Doug Irwin.
It starts with guitars. For players wanting to get their Jerry on, thereās a wide range of Garcia-esque instrumentsāwith just as wide a range of pricesāout there. Recreations of the Doug Irwin guitars and the Fender Alligator Strat abound. China-built models from companies likePhred Instruments can go for as little as $700 or so. Luthier Thomas Lieber apprenticed with Irwin long ago, and his Lieber Guitars will deliver a copy of a variety of Garcia models. Leo ElliottāsScarlet Fire Guitars out of Dallas, Texas, takes things in another direction. Elliott builds Doug Irwin replicas that start at $20,000 and go up from there, with a current wait time of about 18 months for an instrument. Heās outfitted many of the top Garcia guitarists today, including Tom Hamilton Jr. and Jeff Mattson. Elliott says, āIām a self-taught luthier; I didnāt really build my first guitar until 2010. I understood a little bit about woodworking before I got started, but I learned by reading books and through trial and error. I started building replicas of Doug Irwinās Wolf guitar right away, which is sort of like building a car and starting with a Ferrari. I didnāt know any better. Then, eventually I got to know Doug Irwin and collaborated with him. So, I got to hold Garciaās Tiger guitar and get to know it really well, and by 2015, I had built replicas of that guitar. Thereās one guy who helps me around the shop, but otherwise, I am building these guitars on my own. Iām collaborating with Doug Irwin on a new series of Tiger guitars, which will retail for 50 grand each.ā Thatās one way to get your Jerry going.
The JBL-inspired Milkman K-120.
Garciaās choice of amplifiers is another matter. He preferred Fender Twin Reverbs loaded with JBL Alnico speakers, which were popular amongst many rock bands in the 1970s. The details get complicated; Garciaās amps were heavily modified, and the Fender Twin served as a preamp that ran to a McIntosh MC-3500 power amp.
Itās hard to find vintage JBL speakers todayāat least ones in good shape. San Franciscoās Milkman Sound, founded by Tim Marcus, has created a faithful reproduction of those classic JBLsthey call the K-120. Theyāre coupling those speakers with a Garcia-style recreation of his Fender Twin that Marcus named the JG-40. āI think 75 percent of Jerryās tone is in the JBL speakers,ā Milkmanās founder says. āBut when you start to analyze the other 25 percent, you kind of have to start withDon Rich. [Editorās Note: Rich was the guitar player in Buck Owensā band, pioneers of the Bakersfield Sound.] Thatās Jerryās tone, too, but the difference is Garciaās midrange was a bit throatier. It sounds clean, but really, itās not clean at the same time. Especially his tone in the late ā70s. There is something about running that Fender Twin Reverb through the McIntosh that would just completely blow out the tone in a really interesting way.ā
Garcia colored his tone with off-the-shelf effects. This was, after all, long before the days of boutique pedals. By 1978 and beyond, youād hear him playing through an MXR Distortion+, an MXR Analog Delay, and an MXR Phase 100. He often used auto wahs, preferring the Musitronics Mu-Tron envelope filter as well as a Mu-Tron Octave Divider and a Mu-Tron combination volume and wah pedal.
When I asked Jeff Mattson, Bella Rayne, and Tom Hamilton Jr. exactly how orthodox they are about using the kind of gear that Garcia did, I got three different answers.
Mattson tells me that because Dark Star Orchestra is doing something very specific, he really has to tailor his sound as carefully to Garciaās as he can. āSome folks get too hung up on small things, like what kind of cable to use and things like that, and I donāt go that far. But itās important for Dark Star Orchestra to get Jerryās sound right because we are covering different eras and different shows. In 2022, for example, we went to Europe and recreated shows from the Deadās famous Europe ā72 tour, so you have to pay close attention to what kind of gear they were using to do that right.ā
Hamilton works differently. Heās always preferred a higher-gain signal than Garcia ever did, landing in more of a British or heavy metal tone. (Randy Rhoads was a big influence.) āIāve always approached it like, āWhatās the new information we can put into this thing?āā he says. āNot just recreate but pushing in a forward direction. And anytime Iāve played with the guys who played with Garcia back in the day, they always said to me, āYouāre here because youāre here. Donāt try and do what we did back in 1978 or do it because Garcia did it that way.ā Theyāve always encouraged me to be myself.ā
Bella Rayne is just wrapping her head around what it really means to try to sound like Garcia. āBesides Jerry, Iām influenced by guitarists like Dickey Betts and Derek Trucks, so my tone tends to be a bit heavier and bluesy,ā she explains. āIām generally running a Stratocaster through a Fender Twin Reverb. But recently, I was doing a show, and a buddy of mine set up a Jerry rig for me, and that was so cool: JBL speakers, McIntosh head, the whole setup. I had never played through one. I didnāt know what the hype was all about. I plugged in, and it was just amazing; there was such a snap, and I was really commanding the band. I can see myself keeping my current rig but adding a Dead-rig to experiment. But honestly, anything is fine; I am not picky. I just want to play the best that I can.ā
Brent Mason is, of course, on of the most recorded guitarists in history, who helped define the sound of most ā90s country superstars. So, whether you know it or not, youāve likely heard Masonās playing.
Professional transcriber Levi Clay has done the deepest of dives into Brent Masonās hotshot licks. At one point, he undertook the massive project of transcribing and sharing one of Masonās solos every day for 85 or so days. Mason is, of course, on of the most recorded guitarists in history, who helped define the sound of most ā90s country superstars. So, whether you know it or not, youāve likely heard Masonās playing. Levi shares the insight he gleaned from digging deep, and he tells us what it was like when they shared a stage last year. Plus, Levi plays us some great examples of Masonās playing.
PRS Guitars today launched five new three-pickup, 22-fret models across the S2 and SE series. The S2 Series release includes the S2 Special Semi-Hollow and S2 Studio, while the SE Series welcomes the SE Special Semi-Hollow, SE Studio, and SE Studio Standard.
āThe distinctive pickup configurations of these five guitars deliver a versatile tonal platform, whether youāre exploring subtle textures or pushing the envelope. The deep dive into our Narrowfield technology is obvious with this launch. With both the S2 models made in our Maryland factory and the SE models made in Indonesia, our goal has been to create guitars that will inspire you and spark creativity, all at an exceptional value,ā said PRS Guitars COO, Jack Higginbotham.
S2 Special Semi-Hollow
The PRS S2 Special Semi-Hollow features a pair of 58/15 LT humbuckers in the bass and treble positions and a PRS Narrowfield in the middle. A 5-way blade switch and two mini-toggles allow players to tap the humbuckers, creating twelve distinct pickup combinations for sonic exploration. The carved maple top and mahogany back encompass a semi-hollow body that adds a natural airiness and depth to the guitarās tone while enhancing sustain.
S2 Studio
The PRS S2 Studio delivers a wide range of sonic possibilities through its distinctive single-single-hum configuration. Featuring two proprietary PRS Narrowfield pickups in the bass and middle positions and a 58/15 LT humbucker in the treble position, the S2 Studio offers a palette of sounds from single-coil clarity to vocal humbucker tones. This model also has a 5-way blade switch and push/pull tone control.
SE Special Semi-Hollow
The PRS SE Special Semi-Hollow is designed with the versatility of a hum/āsingleā/hum setup, bringing PRSās Narrowfield DD pickup design to the SE Series in a classic maple-top guitar. The semi-hollow construction also enhances sustain and resonance, while the f-hole adds a classic aesthetic. The coil-tap switching system unlocks a wide range of tones through a pair of 58/15 LT āSā pickups in the bass and treble positions and a PRS Narrowfield DD āSā in the middle.
SE Studio
The PRS SE Studioās āsingleā/āsingleā/hum pickup configuration provides a wide range of tonal options. This combination of PRS Narrowfield DD āSā bass and middle pickups with a PRS 58/15 LT āSā treble humbucker offers humbucking warmth, single-coil sparkle, and everything in between. The 5-way blade switch and push/pull tone control further enhance its versatility.
SE Studio Standard
The only bolt-on neck in this release group, the PRS SE Studio Standard brings the tone, playability, and versatility of the Studio model to the SE Series and into an all-mahogany design with a vintage-style pickguard aesthetic. At the heart of the SE Studio Standard is its versatile trio of pickups: an 58/15 LT āSā humbucker in the treble position with two Narrowfield DD āSā pickups in the middle and bass positions. The 5-way blade switch and push/pull tone control allow for an array of pickup configurations.
PRS Guitars continues its schedule of launching new products each month in 2025. Stay tuned to see new gear and 40th Anniversary limited-edition guitars throughout the year.