- #914
- Publié par
lemg le 10 Fév 2005, 18:59
KULA SHAKER
Crispian Mills' main guitar for the recording of Peasants, Pigs & Astronauts is a custom Strat, built by Fender as a copy of his increasingly frail big-headstock '70s number. "I've been playing the black Strat for years," he says, "but I didn't want to take it on the road. I couldn't find another like it, then Fender said they'd make this copy which is great of them." There are differences of course: notably the EMG pickups and the lush blue finish with a peacock graphic a la the sleeve of Sound Of Drums.
Mills also plays a '57 reissue Strat, a red Bigsby-loaded '60s ES-335, plus a new stock USA Tele. Another favourite, although unlikely to make it out on tour, is a '50s Les Paul Goldtop "but without the gold on it - so we call it the woodentop." For 12-strings, Mills uses a Rickenbacker 360 and, of course, a Squier Venus XII which he promoted in a series of adverts for Fender in '97.
"Yeah, I flashed back to when I was 13 - I'm doing an advert for Fender, wow, amazing!" he grins. "They came and got me when I didn't expect it though - we were out in Arizona on tour and the day before we'd been in Sedona in the middle of the famous vortex, where they get all the UFO sightings. We'd spent the whole day there and we were all sunburnt and when we came back to the soundcheck the cameras were there. So there I am: totally sunburnt, just chopped all my hair off, I look like an idiot. So that was my first and possibly last advert. Corporate sponsorship had the last laugh that day. It's a good guitar though."
On Kula Shaker's forthcoming tour, Mills is using a newly purchased Matchless HC-30 plus a hefty Matchless 8x12" cab (Alonza Bevan's Fender Jazz is run through a matching Thunderbird bass rig). A Pete Cornish pedalboard is another recent (but second-hand) acquisition, though as that was specifically designed to run with a Soldano and two Marshalls, Kula Shaker tech 'Stig' is still working out exactly how to incorporate it. Otherwise, effects come from a number of old pedals (MXR Phase 90, a UniVibe CryBaby wah-wah), a Boss G700 rack and an ME-10 multi-FX.
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Much like Peasants, Pigs & Astronauts recalls the trippy productions of the '60s, Crispian Mills' guitar setup harkens back to the "rackscrapers" of the '80s. According to Stig, Kula Shaker's tour technician, Mills' Pete Cornish system is split into two main components: a control/effects rack and an amp rack. A Cornish MIDI interface/footpedal controls effects and signal processing, while the amps serve very specific duties. The Soldano SLO-100 is split into separate preamp and power-amp stages. The Soldano's preamp section pumps out Mills' core sound - and is routed to the Soldano X-88 for effects sends - while the power-amp section is responsible for producing a dry signal. Two Marshall JCM 800s (with the preamp stages disconnected) amplify the left and right effects signals. The details of the whole system are listed as follows.
Guitars: Custom blue "peacock" Fender Strat with EMG SA-V pickups, custom red "dragon" Fender Strat, Fender Squier Venus 12-string, custom blue Fender Telecaster.
Amp Rack: Soldano SLO-100, Marshall JCM 800, two Matchless 8x12 cabinets (each divided in half with one semi-open section, and one sealed-back section).
Control/Effects Rack: Samson U-5 dual UFH diversity wireless system; Soldano X-88 3-channel preamp; Pete Cornish effect and preamp switcher with series and parallel sends and returns (each with dedicated level controls); Pete Cornish 4-channel effects box (1U rackmount) loaded with Boss CS-2 compressor, MXR Phase 90, and Pete Cornish Soft Sus and Vintage Fuzz; Dunlop Uni-Vibe and CryBaby Wah; Lovetone Meatball; Roland SDE-3000 delay; t.c. electronic 2290 delay; and Yamaha REV 500.
Strings & Things: Ernie Ball Hybrid Slinky .009-.046; Jim Dunlop .73mm nylon picks.
