We caught up with Deltron 3030 guitarist Taka Tozawa at his rehearsal studio in a former naval base in San Francisco’s Bay View area to drool over his gargantuan collection of vintage Marshall amps and cabinets, including no fewer than three 8x10 cabs, and one “holy-grail” JTM-45... There’s not always room in the van (or trailer, or bus) for multiple Marshall full-stacks, so Taka counts on his Speaker Cranker overdrive to nail those cranked vintage amp tones on rented backline equipment.
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After a string of Northeast solo tour dates last month, I met up with Greg Cartwright in Brooklyn’s Prospect Heights, just down the block from Norton Records’ HQ where he was staying. If there’s such a thing as garage rock royalty, Cartwright is it. He formed The Compulsive Gamblers in Memphis in 1990 with Jack Yarber, and then The Oblivians just a few years later...
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Kurt Ballou's GodCity Studio is the central hub for crushing, oppressively awesome sounding heavy metal records by the likes of High On Fire, Helms Alee, Skeletonwitch, the Dillinger Escape Plan, and Torche. As if that weren't impressive enough, Ballou is also the guitarist in hardcore trailblazers Converge. And he has the greatest business card of all time...
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Jon San Paolo, staff engineer, building manager, and "weekend guy" at Steve Albini's Electrical Audio shines some light on the "Electrical Method" and how he uses EarthQuaker Devices to save himself and his clients the heartache of trying to "fix it in the mix..."
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