When I was a kid I would show up early and watch the roadies set up the band's equipment. I was really into Thrash and Crossover and I saw the Accused, Suicidal Tendencies and D.R.I. more times than I can count along with all the other punk and metal bands that came through. At the time, I didn’t have the slightest idea what makes and models I was looking at but I was pretty sure it was that green pedal that gave Tommy from the Accused’s guitar that insane tone. Turns out I was right, that vintage Tube Screamer is still one of the best pedals around. I still go out to heavy, fast, loud and evil shows and at 42, I don’t plan to stop. I am very opinionated about music and realized long ago that my taste in musical equipment is equally strong.
I’ve paid my dues both on the stage and behind the mixing board, in clubs and in the studio. The list of killer bands I’ve mixed is surpassed only by the amount of great underground bands I have played with. I have had the privilege to record some bad ass records and I am proud to have been a part of the punk/metal/industrial/noise et al scenes here in Seattle and across the nation since the late 80’s.
As a kid I wanted to be a drummer, drum lessons put a damper on that... (too much practice and they wouldn’t let me play a kit). A few years later in the 80’s I wanted to be a singer like Chavo from Black Flag so a couple high school friends and I started a punk band in Sequim, Wa. Later, I bullshitted my way into a Port Angeles, WA group by saying I could play the drums but ‘didn’t have a kit’. When someone let me use their silver Tama rockstar I basically learned on the spot. Listening to the Melvins and Scratch Acid before practice helped I think.
When I started playing guitar I would take my pink DOD American Metal pedal and plug it into my purple Boss flanger pedal and basically played the flange. Since I was a huge Cure fan and listened to a lot of early Ween it worked out alright. My first real guitar rig was an Ampeg SS140c 2/12 combo with a brand new Ibanez Talman and a Boss SE70 plugged into the effects loop. Basically I was still playing the effects, I just graduated to ALL of the effects, on ALL the time. Super spacey but still heavy. That band was called Torture Pool.
Beginning in the late 90’s I was a founding member of the band BloodHag. We sang really short heavy metal songs about Science Fiction authors. I started with the same Ampeg combo but as we got louder and louder I ended up playing an Ampeg SS150 full stack with a Boss Noise Suppressor into my Boss flanger into a Vox wah into an Ibanez DE7 delay. I also went through a series of guitars but usually played my modded out ‘67 fender Duo-Sonic modded with a Gibson humbucker taken out of a vintage SG. I mod all my guitars with a single humbucker in the bridge position and a volume knob only.
I once counted all the bands and side projects I’ve been a part of and it topped 30... I probably couldn’t even name them all. I am currently in Android Hero as guitar player/singer and play guitar in White Jazz. My solo projects include Ambergris and Null Frequency Impulser, my noise band.
I am a self professed ‘Solid State Geek’ in that I am too rough on gear to tour with tube heads. Also, a lot of my favorite bands have played solid state gear; Helios Creed, Eyehategod, Unwound, Karp and Obituary spring to mind. I am extremely proud of the fact that no one piece of gear has ever cost me more that $350 to buy and the list is almost as long as the list of stuff I’ve sold or got stolen just like any gear junkie... Tube geeks calm down, it does include a couple choice tube heads and it is as follows:
1974 100 watt Ampeg V4 head
Early 70’s Sound Research B1000 head with matching 2/15 tuck and roll cab
Ampeg SS150 (black face) head
Ampeg SS 140c (black face) head
Ampeg SS 140 (blue face) head
Randal Switchmaster 150 head
Sunn Coliseum Slave head
Ampeg 4/12 cabinet filled with WGS British Lead speakers
Beheringer 4/12 cabinet filled with same
Marshall 1960 2/12 cabinet
Black ’67 fender Duosonic
Black mid 90’s Ibanez Talman
Pink Gibson Les Paul Jr
Black 80’s Gibson SG
Black Ibanez Roadstar
Yellow Epiphone Bass
Yamaha Acoustic gtr
Early 70’s Blue Swirl Pearl drum kit with 13” tom, 16” floor
Mid 80’s 24” Ludwig modded marching band bass drum
Tama Rockstar snare
My pedalboard(s) include:
Akai E2 Headrush
Greedtone Classic Overdrive
Boss flanger
Ibanez DE7 delay
Boss noise suppressor
2 Boss tuners
Boss Heavy Metal distortion
DOD American Metal distortion
DOD Death Metal distortion
Boss D1 distortion
Joyo JF-06 Vintage Phase
Joyo Digital Delay
Hopefully you will enjoy reading and listening to my favorite bands and equipment wizards talk about all their cool stuff. Thanks! J.M.McNulty
