Black Pumas Rig Rundown Guitar & Bass Gear Tour with Adrian Quesada, Eric Burton & Brendan Bond

the satisfaction of finishing your pedal board for the 38th time hey everyone I'm outside the Ryman Auditorium for today's episode which is featured inside the Ryman Auditorium with the black Pumas two years ago I got to see them at out a sold out performance and It produced one of my favorite Rhyman moments where Eric Burton grabbed his es one 25 from 1959 took to the balcony and performed Fast Car by himself it was memorable and I'll never forget it the rest of my life fast forward to filming this Rig Rundown a couple weeks ago we started off with Adrian who was kind of the musical director of the band and he had three key instruments he used uh each one serving its own purpose but one spe specific Fender was really cool because it's nothing like I've ever seen 15 years doing this job and I it'll have some Fender freaks questioning why he did it and others questioning where he can get one and the coolest thing I thought about Adrian's story not only is what he's done with music in in black Pumas in other acts in Austin but was when his parents found out that he was flunking UT because he was spending all his times at various clubs in Austin performing they gave him an ultimatum of you can go back to UT and we'll continue funding your school you know school work going to college but you got to leave your guitar here well you can imagine how that led or that unfolded next up was basis Brendan Bond and he was a hoot he he reminded me and Perry of nor McDonald but like in a very comedic musical way uh he had us in stitches and he was just a very good guy to be around he told a very uh enjoyable story about how he was inspired to buy a 73p Bas after visiting the show uh will Loft in Chicago and last but not least was Tech Brian Wilkinson who filled in for Eric Burton showed off three key instruments and it was just a great time to spend with those guys and I hope you enjoy the Rig Rundown [Music] hey everyone this is Chris keys for Premier Guitar today I'm at the Ryman Auditorium with Adrien of the black Pumas Adrian how you doing I'm good man how are you very well thank you for doing this this is a treat I saw you guys two years ago I think about the same time of year and I was telling Brian the tech who will be talking to in a minute uh one of the coolest moments I've seen a show here which has probably been over 100 times is when Eric took an encore and went on the balcony and did Fast Car that was I don't think I've ever seen anyone take to the balcony for an encore so that was a cool thing I know you're probably done it at other venues but for someone to take it in that was a cool moment for me as a fan to check that out and be a part of yeah man it's always it's always amazing uh playing with Eric cuz uh I mean that obviously that's a little plan but you never know what he's going to do and he's he's happy to do whatever to you know to put on a good show like that yeah well getting to you you know people know you and we're talking to you because of the black Pumas uh but you're kind of a fixture in Austin music you had a Grammy you know you've been nominated several times with black womans before that but uh but before that you were obviously already won a Grammy so you're just a music man you got your studio that Brian says there's tons of gear at yeah yeah before we get into what you do bring touring what do you choose or how do you choose of all the gear that you have like what are the decisions and what kind of things go into those decisions to be like I'm going to bring out this special guitar or this type of amp or these pedals because I'm sure you have so many treats at home how you make those decisions about what you're going to take you know precious things vintage things yeah yeah yeah so like how do how do you bring break that that decision and yeah there's been a couple of guitars one in particular that I have that I had to kind of retire from from bringing out live it was just it was really fragile and something was always happening to it was one of my favorite ones had to stop bringing that um this particular Telly was designed by uh the Fender Custom Shop and I've designed a couple of guitars with Fender but this one they actually made sort of as a surprise for us apparently they just like put our first album on repeat and tried to match those sounds wow handed this to us as a surprise and um was already reliced and whatnot and this has been my absolute favorite guitar since then really and it's the perfect guitar for black Pumas like they just nailed it so what guitar did it replace was it another Telly in terms of the one that you retired um no the guitar I retired was actually years ago with touring with other bands um it was a Gibson 446 okay which is kind of a rare uh like 335 is meets Les Paul Custom Shop that they made like a short amount of those and um I used to play that a lot and I had to retire that one years ago it was always getting messed up so now what were some of the designs or feedback that you gave Fender when you tried to make your own uh instrument what were some things that you're were chasing so I'm I'm fairly new to Telecaster it's probably only been actually probably since around black Pumas maybe like a couple years before that actually I'd say maybe six seven years have I really been on to Telly's um I've always liked uh you know semih holos and thin lines so I've I've that was some of the thing we designed one in particular that um that had a that was a Thinline semih Holo I like I like that resonation you know of Hollow Bodies and stuff so I wanted like Best of Both Worlds made one with them um always like you know tremo bars as well put that on there um but again they I made now two guitars with them that I gave them all my feedback this one they handed me and I'm like this one's the best one that you know like I'm not the most technical guy in terms of like pickups and wiring and whatnot so they just got it right with this one but I do have a really cool um semih Hol so I like to get uh the bite of a Telly you know as you can see I get uh humbuckers in them too I like a little bit of that still as well but I also like a little bit of that resonation so that's big for me with you'll see with some of my other guitars okay now when it comes to this one specifically between the bridge pickup and the the neck humbucker where do you live most always pretty much I on the neck yeah every once in a while um for Studio use and when I need like a little bit more versatility I will switch or sometimes go in between for some of that you know but generally for the live show this is this is where I live okay you know and I noticed and this is a thing that you part of our Big Five series a couple years ago where you talked about uh I think it was five different questions we asked you and one of the things you said it was your secret weapon was your classical background and that you were like kind of shredding your nails but I noticed in the intro you were playing with a pick so for black Pumas would you say you're using the pick a 50/50 or how's that go 75% and then um nails for the rest of it and that's another reason that um you know I I control I can control tone and stuff without having to switch too much cuz I think switching back and forth between fingers to you know soft finger to nail to pick um I can kind of control tone and volume a lot like so I do that a lot um just 75% pick um I I recently finally had to break down and get acrylic nails cuz I was just always breaking cuz it's kind of rough I was going to ask how this janky ass acrylic nail here yeah that's the secret weapon yeah now what do you what do you I'm sure tonally too besides the Dynamics that you're playing is also just the nails or the thumb against the strings are almost provide a different tone than the the more aggressive attack of a plum too absolutely that I'm super grateful that when I started playing I I originally started with classical and flamco so I used to actually I didn't really start playing with a pick even when I was in rock bands like in in high school and stuff until I was in college okay when it was just like okay I needed to really cut through and get like more attack so I didn't I didn't start using a pick till after high school and I was already you know playing Rock stuff and all that so now do you would you say you're pretty comfortable with a pick now like okay I didn't know if it still favored the the the kind of finger style classical style playing you know honestly I I have to like really think about it I would guess it's 75 to 25 but might be more I don't know if with a p in my mouth that means I decided to take it out and mess with it now you bring up college and in that big five video that everyone should check out on the Premier Guitar channel is that you had said that your parents took away your guitar when you in college is this a true story yeah yeah can you can you tell it real quick to this audience yeah I uh went to went off to college UT Austin and um just got obsessed with the music scene there was playing in bands and that's all I was doing you and um and I went there obviously to get a degree and uh first semester I think I failed like most of my almost everything thing and uh they pulled me aside and we like cuz I'm from Laredo Texas which is south of there and they're like you can either stay in Laredo um or you can or we'll keep your guitar and you can go back to Austin and you need to focus like next semester and I was like keep that guitar man and then I went back to Austin took my book money bought a a guitar at like how quick did you go the day I got there um went to uh buy a squire Telly and actually one of the guitars I designed with Fender is uh is based on the first guitar that I bought there when I moved to Austin which is that it was a thin line Telly wow it that's how do your parents feel about it now yeah they just crack up they were just here last night so yeah oh that's cool you good problem to Mother Church well uh before we move on and maybe hear a little bit of the Telly uh what strings are you using on this one these tens I can't remember Brian Brian my boy here okay 9 to 46 is there a reason uh why 9 out of 46 um I like to get a a you know bigger low end here but honestly a lot of times Brian will just be like hey going to go to 9 I'm going to go to 10 and I just kind of run with it I've been I tried to go thicker and um I've settled back on to nine for a little bit just um a little bit more versatility and you know bending is a little bit easier and stuff like that but there you know there are a lot of guitars I have like in my studio where I'll go up to like 11s and 12s and stuff like for tone but that's not for Live use you know so this this is a good like happy medium for me okay well uh we'll probably revisit the Telly when we get to the pedal board section but let's Cruis onto another guitar okay uh Adrian tell me about this guitar yeah this is a uh Gibson 345 um was originally actually looking for a 335 for something and um I think they were out of and it was a loner from Gibson at first and they they gave me a 345 a good friend of mine has has had a 345 for years the veritone switch is really cool so you use it sometime people neglect it I use it in the studio lot okay live I need I need to simplify for like live applications you'll see like with some of the pedals and things like can't it can't be too drastic it doesn't always cut through comes in super handy in the studio um I used to have a 335 way back in the day and um they didn't have one they they loan me this just fell in love with it on top of that it just looks cool as hell the color was super dope and um yeah this one again like semih Hollow humbuckers you know plays a different role than that Fender when I need to go onto some fuzz and stuff like that you get a little bit more of that beef yeah now what were you using back with groupo fantasmo that was a uh a Gib that Gibson um 446 yeah that's what I used for a long time with them and then I started that's when I started using a little Telly okay cool uh I see a little ding on the headstock yeah man I was uh coming battar yeah that this uh airport playing with arano gutter is who you guys did one of these for in Mexico City and I got lazy I'm usually really good about about my guitars on a flight I've just but I've been so lucky for years I've never I've had tons of guitars break I just got sloppy and just took a crappy case checked it and I just decided to check it and I never do cuz I'm just nothing ever happens you know and I just like opened it and was like God damn it you know so yeah we were never we haven't been able to get it looking as pretty as it was but hey sometimes people swear that they sound better with the headstock yeah repairs I don't know if that's a like a thing they tell themselves you know to make the guilt go away but yeah I've heard people say that before we move on to another one can we can we hear this one real quick yeah yeah so this one um my tremolo is kind of always on this one I don't know if this is coming through the monitor yeah so what I mainly use this one for is I have a a separate pedal board which we can get to which is um just a DI fuzz I wanted that sound of just a fuzz like plugged into a console kind of di thing without the amp tried all kinds of stuff I tried different fuzz pedals through my amp I tried a separate amp going directly into the amp and diming it yeah couldn't get that sound so we set up a separate pedal board with just a I just a fuzz into like a tiniest bit of a Reverb direct into the PA and that's that's when this guitar usually comes out it just has that [Music] like [Music] so that's mainly there's a tiny bit of Reverb on it but um and that imagine that's how you recorded the song that gets the song was recorded directly so the song that I did that actually Eric Eric actually played um on that one and uh but I do I do that fuzz sound on a lot of stuff that like di you know that's my favorite fuzz sound if I could do that all night I would do that all night you know I've done that on like both our albums a million things so cool well uh I think we should move on to another one yeah all right Adrian this this is a cool guitar but I bet you the story is even cooler so tell me all about it so to start with um we we work closely with Matt Ferrar and and fenders custom shop to um design a couple of guitars Eric designed one I designed one as well and um went back and forth on what I have already designed a Telly with them okay that I have a one-off kind of prototype of and I already have that other Telly that I played so I was like what else what else could I possibly add to something um I don't like to you know as Brian will tell you like I don't need I don't feel the need to switch guitars on every song cuz I kind of try to control tone here and and with pedals and stuff so but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to make a guitar so I was like really thinking like Jazzmaster again back to a semih hollow you know I like that option of getting that feedback of of that resonation um pickup wise I think this kind of gold foil was based on like another guitar I had I'm not like the most technical with pickups I don't remember they I kind of told them what I liked and they uh made it wanted a humbucker on it the other uh thing with it so this is also that uh natural wood is also based off that first guitar that I bought when I moved to Austin was also like a thin line Telly uh that looked a lot like this and um what I wanted the the pedal the effect I use the most I almost kind of it's hard to not use it on every song is a is tremolo I'm just a tremolo freak I just think everything just sounds better you know I just try not to use it and I just end up turning it on so I was thinking of cool stuff um that you could do with guitars I have this cool Vox base from the 60s that has like built-in fuzz and I love weirdo kind of stuff like that and I had seen this Jack White Guitar where he like pulled out a little like he has one that had a little like kind of walkie-talkie microphone and it goes through the circuit through the Antman it just sounded crazy I was like why don't we just do like some kind of onboard effect and I was just thinking you know for like certain gigs and stuff like sometimes I if if it's another gig not Pumas but um all I will take is my Flint stman like and has just tremolo and Reverb I'm like if I can just have the tremolo here then I don't need anything so yeah we put an onboard tremolo uh and they laughed for like a second but otherwise we're like that sounds super cool and they and they were like way into the idea you know so um yeah cuz I don't think I've ever seen that now there's a company in Iowa that does Jazz master and like Jag style guitars uh and I think Nel's Klein has one I'm sure other people have it is uh it's typically fuzz fuzz is a circuits you find in guitars like that so to find modulation or a trim in that is cool that's like a a curveball yeah I have that I have that box that has built-in uh that box base that has a built-in fuzz I will say it's not like the most practical thing like it just it just doesn't always work it's the novelty wears off after a while this T tremolo is not worn off to me I'm like man it's so such so handy to have it you know as our other host would say uh John Binger you would say tremolo and Reverb is like hot sauce just just put on everything yeah yeah exactly yeah now uh for the tremolo freaks out there and knowing it's coming from uh Fender DNA could you tell us anything about the circuit was it based on like any of the amp old amps they use like a brown face or anything like that you know I don't remember exactly I was actually just looking through my phone through text with Matt um and they built me a prototype again I think they just listened to my stuff and were like and you know they actually sent me a prototype pedal that I have still have and I got had to check that out sent the little feedback and it came back with this I don't remember what it is yeah I just didn't know if it was maybe something they pulled from an amp circuit or you know I they make pedals too so I was just curious uh and is there another guitar you want to talk about or is this kind of it I think this these are my main three guitars on this show so like these will get the job done in terms of your Liv St yeah absolutely and this one's new I've only had it um they just built this prototype and we just got them you on this tour okay so I'm still slowly incorporating this one I'm so used to the other ones that like I'm like bringing it in two or three songs a night and just starting to get used to it I've been playing in The Green Room a lot just to kind of get my fingers used to it I'm so used to that Telly when I pick that up it just feels comfortable so I do love and I don't know if this is your call or their call the block inlays and the black head stock is and the Gold Hardware it's classy yeah so the the black head stock was because uh it was supposed to have a black pit guard uhhuh um we were going to do a black pit guard and then at the last minute Matt sent me a white one he's like what do you think this kind of looks more 60s and then I was like actually looks kind of cool with black and white and uh all these Lush sounds we've been hearing so far have coming through a off Fender combo what are you using uh Deluxe Reverb has just been my jam um you know I I have a I have a 65 I have a 72 I have a couple of clones and then I have this one you know sometimes on tour we do have the 70s one here right Brian I believe yeah um bringing vintage gear on the road sometimes is a little finicky it's Risky Business yeah and these these uh silverface um reissues have actually been really killer um Brian actually found this one on a Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace in Austin and it also just looked super cool the toist was awesome but I'm really digging these uh these silver faer issues now the blue was that so that was you bought it as is okay and then the speaker in the back is kind of unusual yeah like I put that in there yeah and you dig that yeah I'm digging it you know I'm not like I'm I've never been like super overly technical with speakers and stuff like that I hear it and I know if like it or I don't but the guy explained it all to me I sounded good to me yeah well a Craigslist gone right yeah man well let's dive into your pedal board Adrian uh I know we kind of hit uh the side board here with the the direct input stuff and the fuzz but is the POG kind of adding to that 335 yeah there's a uh it's one part of the um uh set where I I'm using that fuzz but on the album I did octaves on the guitar on like a fuzz di think okay and on that same song on ice cream so that was uh the POG was the most compact thing I could get that little you know n po everything's at noon so I can kind of no so they're not at noon so that's actually funny everybody thinks all my things are at noon I this is a little trick somebody showed me oh you you just set them and I mean it's is not that advanced but somebody just told me about this so you set them where you want them and then for easier uh you just mark That's noon and then so it doesn't matter where the line actually is just somebody else has has to set to noon so it only works with certain ones okay but yeah they're not actually at noon like this one um these type of knobs don't work like that but but anyways yeah so they're not at noon a lot of people tell me they're like man you just said everything at noon I'm like no it's fooled me I would have been like oh everything at noon for this yeah that sound just like the black Pumas but well let's move over to the main board here yeah and kind of explain how you're using everything we we obviously touched on the Flint is that an always on thing the stman um used to be always on because I always had that Reverb I used to love those Holy Grail uh spring reverbs I've tried the most bouquey of the most bouquey fan spring reverbs and I always come back to those these just these just get it right you know I've had people you know chew me out about whatever I don't care it sounds good to me so now the the stman has actually become a second Reverb for more Reverb on certain songs okay but that this if you had to if I had like a desert island one pedal I could do it would be the stman for sure cuz I do still love that Reaver but that tremolo gets used probably once like every song or every other song now the thing with the Flint and this might not be something you you might dip down to check out is like do you have a preferred setting cuz like those flints have like the 50s the 60s style yeah I usually do the top one which I think it's cover I forget what it is um well right now it's not on the top one but uh but they're all pretty cool sometimes I'll get crazy and go down to that 65 photo it's a little more I think that's the one that's like a little more bubbly like yeah and uh can we hear actually both reverbs together like yeah yeah so I always have that Reverb on the Holy Grail is always on yeah I do love the Reverb off the amps but when we're on tour and doing festivals and playing backline where the amps have been just getting beat up all day long it wasn't reliable sometimes the reverbs don't work sometimes they're totally different so I just need to I need I can rely on this you know good Baseline so you know there's a song like our song Fire that I need like extra stupid Reverb and and I'll kick that one on and do like a you know that's the [Music] extra and can we hear the trem a little quick yeah yeah so I switched it down to the no I put it back up this is the one I normally use [Music] and then uh this one I dig too here oh yeah that one but but that one doesn't always work for the live show it's like almost a little to rhythmic or something yeah and and I want to get this on the record cuz I don't know if it came up in the last one where I did with uh estaban and Alejandro Hermanos Gutierrez they both have flints but you turned them onto it so like that record that everyone's going to be enjoying next month in May Bros you guys you turned them on to and they said that was the pedal they could live about shout out to my boys yeah well let's keep cruising along uh we see an EQ pedal how do you use that so yeah Fender makes These acoustic Sonics and what I really like about them is that you know you can run it through an amp and I do like the sound of an acoustic through an amp the kind of music we play I'm not you know out here playing you know singer songwriter stuff I like the vibe of an amp and on our album actually quite a few of the acoustic guitars have gone through amps really so yeah I was able to do this it's compact that travels well and stuff and it's it's pretty cool I did realize as soon as we started using it that um uh I did need to EQ it yeah congrat and actually back to hermano uh Alejandro uses a an EQ pedal too and I was asking him about his and he he because he switches guitars as well he just like quickly does that so I had the kind of EQ was it was running a little bit hotter I was able to control the level there and uh I actually I forget to turn this thing on all the time Bri the other day Brian was like man I it was on and you didn't notice I'm like yeah so this this I haven't quite embrace the the EQ pedal yet but in theory at some point yeah yeah it's there at some point now uh moving down on the bottom row what we got next yeah so um this this Epoch boost this Catalin bread I always had an EP booster um which I love is another like kind of desert island pedal just that a little bit of extra push you know for leads and when you have a a kind of a lower wattage amp it breaks up kind of cool too and sometimes I like that sound um then I discovered this one and you just have a little more control cuz you have the Boost and you have the preamp so you almost two levels and you can kind of dial it in a little bit more if if the EP booster had that I would have kept the EP booster but this this is a slight upgrade for me I mean hey and it's working at the High Noon settings like Adrian PR everything's High Noon yeah so what's the line six pedal this is this is a gem so I needed a uh tap Tempo delay pedal okay we have a song that I always use delay on but um sometimes our Tempo kind of fluctuates we don't play it or anything like that so sometimes um I like to be able to dial it in as Eric starts the song I'm like over here tapping um there's not a ton of them that are in in as compact as this that sound good okay you know there's some that have like a separate foot switch and stuff like that but I like I don't like overkill on the pedal board um this one sounds great it has tap Tempo um you know I like I like simple pedals as you can tell I don't like too many knobs and stuff even this one which I love the sound of it and stuff but these tiny little knobs sometimes I mean if one thing gets moved like the tiniest bit and I don't check it and I'll start the song it's like completely different so yeah I like you can see I like two three knobs one knob if possible yeah uh Park fuzz can we hear how you're running that yeah I mean this is I used to have two or three fuzz pedals here for different songs and um the park fuzz has just become my jam um when it first came out I remember a friend of mine had one in the studio and he told me it was he's like yeah it'd be a good Studio pedal it's not quite a live pedal but but I just still tried it out love it it's just become it's I have a ton of other fuzz pedals that I really love that I use in the studio but in but they're fuzz pedals are so finicky and not reliable live some are too thin some are too intense some are too and I've just found again they're not really at High Noon but uh we um this gets used on you know the whole set and it's now just the only fuzz I have in here [Music] and you can really kind of control it with volume too you know like so it sounds just based on how you were attacking the string it sounds really responsive yeah yeah yeah you can kind of dial it in based on even like Nigel from spinal tap here playing playing fuzz for you you hear the [Music] sustain no well I mean they they're making a spinal tap too so who oh yeah I'm might be there day one yeah Echo the echo um is I needed another completely different option I'm honestly still kind of tweaking that one uh totally love it I love all Catal and bread stuff I use it a lot in the studio I'm still tweaking this one and this is another one that's like any subtle movement will completely change the sound uh absolutely love the sound of it it's kind of I'm finally right now I've been finally finding uh the right setting for it but I'm kind of still tweaking this one like every show but it's a whole separate option this this is more of a rhythmic um you [Music] know cuz that echo's trying to get after a tape Echo right yeah the Vincent Echo so yeah this one I've been using a little bit um just with some slide stuff for effect and just a little bit more Dimension M and uh the jam pedal here the one knobber yeah so we have a song on our new record that uh has like heavy phas guitar and that one was a vintage uh like maybe a mro that I have in the studio I can't remember what it was but um I you know I try to keep things that are reliable and where I don't like to bring like vintage pedals especially in particular don't always uh do the job live for me but I was wanting something simple and tried a handful of phase pedals and they're almost like too complicated I went to a store in Austin called the Austin guitar house I explained to them what I was looking for and I was like I don't want 100 options I want it as simple as possible and they were like this one has one knob and I was like there you go tried it and um [Music] totally I imagine the knob is set for just control the speed it actually I think it uh does a combination where it actually pushes a couple things but um I don't even remember it sounded good it worked marked it and left it there yeah add the cart yeah in the full tone is that a wall or expression that's W okay yeah I've been uh I just got turned on to the I mean I've always had a w pedal on here um you know I like a lot of late 60s early' 7s guitar players and uh always had a wall pedal I don't necessarily use it I use it always for rhythmic stuff I don't really use it um for a lot of lead stuff not like a lot of super hendri or anything like that but more like you know that kind of stuff but I was at a Friend studio recently and and um he had one of these played it and I fell in love with it I texted Brian I'm like man I just got turned onto this full tone thing and then I Googled it and everybody was like yeah those are like the you know the coolest I feel like it's a lot warmer um the rain it stays warm through the whole range and you can kind of dial it in which I haven't even done you can really dial in the buffer zone and all this stuff but uh uh it just it it's really stays warm through the whole sweep you know so I've just I just converted to these like two months ago the one thing I noticed just how you're using it real quick there it almost reminds me of a a roto Vibe or something like Jer trell would use with Alison chains just almost more Vibe than a standard w m yeah and same thing with the the the jam pedal there I know it's a phaser but again it reminded me more of a Vibe kind of lushness the other cool thing with with W that I like is you know it's an instant tone switch for just yeah you know just like uh melodic uh kind of tener guitar lines as they say you know like it just cuts through speaking of another Texas guitarist he loves his wall he has it on all a lot of times I don't know if it's Auto or wall but uh mark from kbin yeah of his sound yeah man he's incredible yeah yeah he sets it sets it and forgets it but uh Adrian I think we're going to talk to Brian and brandan so I really appreciate your time man man this has been great appreciate it yeah hey y'all I'm John Binger with Premier Guitar so our rig rundowns for a long time now have been sponsored by didario and I'm thrilled to be using the didario expand pedal board I've got this little guyy that fits in my gig bag and like many of you I'm changing pedals all the time love having the board that can shrink as I'm shrinking my board or expand as I'm expanding it and that's why I love the expand pedal board their patented telescoping technology lets me instantly change the size of my pedals playground it also features a unique cable management system and comes fitted with loops of velcro keeping everything neat and easy to swap the two expand versions comes with either one or two rows depending on your needs so a big thanks to D Dario now let's get back to more rig rundowns all right now I am joined by Brandon the bass player Brandon how you doing I'm good man it's good to be here you uh got notice in Music City how' that feel it it felt great I tell you it doesn't happen often and you got to uh mention that you were a Basse player and people didn't you know no recoil in fear yeah that's what normally happens they're actually disgusted no it was great it love it here we're at the Ryman what can you ask for can you ask for more yeah I bet you I bet you it's a treat the player you guys play uh beautiful venues all over the world but hopefully this Gem of ours in h Nashville is a treat for yeah yeah are you from out here oh yeah we live here we're based here oh no I didn't know that that's awesome yeah we love it here and obviously the Ryman is something very special to any musician so yeah uh I got to do something this is about me I'm going to do it for 5 seconds I actually named my son Ryman really yeah he's for months old so yeah I named my son Ryman that's fantastic yeah that's wonderful but uh we're not talking about me or my son we're talking about your B tell me about this beauty yeah so this is a as you correctly pointed out a 1974 Fender p i uh um I'll tell you how I got this thing we were playing I've always played um fenders just when I was you know coming up in Basse was just what you did and Fender had started giving me some nice bases and I never had nice bases yeah but then I went to we went to um the Wilco Loft and uh they said hey do you want to play Jeff Tweety's p and I said well yeah of course obviously I want to yeah but I didn't I was like yeah I play whatever bass I'm pretty I'm not very picky you know and then but then I picked it up it's like this heavy thing and I'm here I'm like I'm like playing it I'm like this is like a different instrument it it felt so solid everything was I mean obviously The Damp was awesome everything was great but the bass the bass was like i' never experienced just like just even physically tonally everything was like wow so I I didn't even go home I went I flew home after that that tour and there's a guitar shop called Austin V guitars right next to my house or where I was living at the time how close we talking we're talking two blocks that's dangerous yeah well listen yeah so I went I'll tell you that I'll tell you something about that in a second because I didn't even go home I went straight to the Austin vintage guitars and my buddy Greg rhs is there and I said look dude I played this P at the at the Wilco Loft I've got to get one and he said you're in luck we've got this 74 it's a little lighter weight I'm an older guy my back hurts so this is great and I played it and I was like this is perfect because it has that same sort of I don't know what man it's like the J SE quav like a heavy instrument that sounds amazing and it really is different like I have a backup that's like a it's an amazing base it's a 2022 one of these fender reissues with all the electronics that dual pickup and stuff but it's like night and day playing this thing it's like something especially with this kind of music it's like just really nice what do you what would you pinpoint or what would you describe the difference being I think the first thing I remember is like and I don't know anything about how these Bridges like you can tell this is a new bridge CU you can see the old holes but yeah uh something about the the the string response to start just feels you know that one it's super light it doesn't quite have the same it's like I I almost compare to like a drummer okay like you know when you have a snare head and you're like it's like got a certain kind of Bounce to it I feel the same way with you know like strings and I'm probably wrong you know I'm no I'm no technician your opinion is yours so go with it but it just feels like it felt it feels so solid in a way that it just never got with the other bases that I've always played which is or like you know fine they're just for a long time I had like the $200 pee that I bought off of homie for yeah for a while like I was playing that thing forever really and so um yeah this was I mean so this was a couple years ago when I got this but um I really love it and so yeah I've been playing this ever since and do you remember what actual bass I know it sounds like an old P that you played at The Wil Loft that was Jeff's cuz he an arsenal of vintage my God so yes oh uh yeah so I can't remember I think it was a 62 or 63 it might have been the classic kind of like holy grail model it was black um it's probably they have a if you don't know they have this amazing Instagram where they the wol does where they actually showcase all the kind of quirky and awesome it's like a museum it is it really is and the guy I I wish I could remember his saying he's such a nice guy the guy that sort of manages that studio workspace uh lovingly curates this Instagram account and he manages all the gear and he's such an nice guy and he told me a little bit about that P but you know I don't know much about it other than it was like 62 Holy Grail played great sounded amazing and yeah I think I was playing through like an EG or something but it just sounded awesome yeah one of those like Pinch Me moments I'm sure yeah cuz I'm a big Wilco fan too and the other thing the other thing that me and some of my bandmates did was we went home and tried to find our own spot cuz the great thing about that space is like you just walk in and there's no friction between you and and creativity yeah immediately you know it's just the the whole place is designed to walk in and start working which it was really inspiring cuz me I'm like on the couch I'm just like oh should I do something cool you know so having a space where that so we went and got actually right next to Adrian's Studio but um anyway so well now are you using uh your fingers exclusively for for the black Stu this band yeah yeah for sure so I've got flat ones on here I think they're Dar Dario um thanks Brian um thanks to Dario thanks to Dario Dario Dario Dar Dario I don't know all I know is that they do they sponsor the Rig Rundown so hey well listen let me tell you something love you I'm not joking around these strings are awesome not that I know that much about strings but if I can tell the difference I think when they're different so thanks to dearo De diio diio now are you changing them or those flat WS kind of like setting a shot level that's a funny thing you mentioned cuz I forever I was sort of like I'll never change these strings yeah in fact I used to work at Willie Nelson studio and the boss the my boss at the time uh there was a bass in there and I was like man I was just kind of playing it like setting up for a a session in there and I was like oh man these strings are like this was when I before I even really played bass and I the dead sound like I didn't realize that you were going for that yeah I like man I think these string needs to be changed he said no one changes their bass strings man you know and I was like oh and I'll always remember that but Brian has been convinced me to occasionally change because they get a little crusty you know and gross well I got to ask a question that is kind of Divergent of this topic but it's music related how does one get a job at Willie Nelson's right uh yeah yeah so that's a interesting story so um laid on us so I was in bands but I I was a trumpet player for a long time I didn't start bass until I was in my 20s but um um it's a logical jump trumpet oh yeah they're both mono mono phonic you know you flee actually is a trumpet player yeah yeah I think there's actually a lot of similarity I trying to make a joke and now I'm an no no no I've heard that before but it does make a lot of sense you know bass is this strange combination of of Rhythm and Melody Yeah you sort of exist in this hybrid Zone and trumpet's obviously a very melodic instrument but they sort of complement one another I think um you've swayed me I I am converted great yeah yeah yeah no continue with your story about how you landed in Willie oh yeah yeah so um this is one of those things like uh so I I'm from Austin I've never I've always been there and um I was in bands you know in the in the in the early maybe middle 2000s I was graduating high school and my high school emo band was doing stuff over in Austin and I played trumpet because we were all really super into this ban American football and some of the sort of classic first wave second wave emo yeah and um I don't know what that's how that's relevant I think I think a guy any you can segue or insert American football into a yeah yeah um but uh this guy Jared saw the band he was like man you guys are great um and I can't remember how but I somehow cond him into into being like hey man I'm looking for a studio like an assistant gig because I was interested in that and I had sort of like you know I think I had taken some some college classes in the mixing room at UT and um and he to my surprise was like yeah come on in we need someone we just you know we just lost someone or something and come on in and so Jared uh and and then Jacob skeba that who at the time was one of the head Engineers over there they totally changed my life that was an amazing experience and uh such a great studio and watching real musicians work in that way incredible I'm sure it was inspiring I mean inspiring and just like I'm never going to be that good you know you found your way here yeah yeah yeah that's true that's true but um I mean you know like I remember I remember we did a session with Willie which is a pretty rare occurrence uh even even in those days just cuz you know uh he goes all over the place but so there was a Willie session and they had these guys from Nashville actually in there um and they and the way they just they did a they cut a 10 song record that was essentially Flawless in like five hours it was incredible and just watching these guys and then you know the bass player who was also the band leader I think you know would chart him out real quick chart out the tunes and then someone like this amazing mandolin player would they just cutting it all live and then the mandolin player would say hey I I think I I need to punch uh you know line three bar four or whatever in the bridge whatever and then they would just do it he just nail it and then next song next tune and and in seriously like five hours it was like 10 songs and it was Flawless just incredible yeah uh so watching that was really inspiring and then yeah know just getting to see musicians I I actually seeing so many musicians you know you're like I want to be on the other side of the glass you know like this it was really fun but I I started taking music a little more seriously and then uh yeah here we are now you're here yeah well we got the 74 with the DAR Dario strings yep flat L of course talk to me about the super baseman oh yeah so I don't know if you know Adrian we're we're a fender band through and through they've been really great to us and I actually the first time I played a super baseman I didn't even know what it was but I was like why does this amp it was kind of like with the p I was like why does this amp sound so good yeah and uh so ever since then I've always wanted one I never really had one and then you know a couple you know four or five years ago six years ago now when I when I joined the band and we were going on tour at some point in the in our journey someone was like well what do you want to bring on tour and I said well what do you mean and he said well what's your rig like and I said dude I don't own I don't own an amp I've always just borrowed a rumble from like the band yeah yeah you know oh boy and so I was like well that's pretty I was like man and I hung up the phone with the production manager at the time and I was like that's kind of embarrassing I should go get an amp so I went to this guitar shop in Austin I think it's called um I can't remember what it's called but I bought this and we've used it ever since that was four or five years four years ago maybe but uh it's great it sounds exactly the way you want to cuz you know the goal you can tell that's like almost two round but that's the goal yeah no no finger noise it's all about The Punchy sort of like round you know like mtown Stacks or something like that at least how I interpret that sound which is like just a percuss it's almost a percussive and this amp is perfect for that because it's tube I have two channels if I need the overdrive which I almost never use anymore but um I have at some point I duck the mids but it's I almost always just ran everything at five CU I'm an unsophisticated rube and um but yeah I mean it just sounds to me for this type of music especially perfect it's a great pairing yes that Basse and then the tube head yeah right right and it's just got the and you but you it's not so round like a rumble or something or or any sort of solate that you might get yeah that's not really sophisticated like some of the ones we were talking about earlier but it also gets this sort of like high harmonic Buzz thing that you get which is the perfect like uh it's the perfect hybrid you know like I want it to be really round but I also don't want it to sound like a dead yeah dead something dead or something yeah yeah exactly and so it's like to me and I think this is actually a little too dark but yeah it's like just enough kind of high frequency Buzz or something whatever that sort of harmonic picture that you're painting is like in there with this amp and it's probably not with the other amps that I've done which admittedly have been like the rumble and I toured with an one time I was in the UK with this band and they were like oh yeah we had to we got you an amp and it was this orange that was like that big and I think I don't play very loud but I think I blew it out like day three I bet yeah so um but uh yeah so that's that's the that's the amp picture now what do you on the control set are you wide open or are you messing with those throughout the no I'm wide open I think the DI here does a lot of of work because um well tell us about it you got a pedal board so that's official but uh I do actually took I used to just run with a snark so Brian help me out on the wrist yeah a 74 you don't do that I know I know I know you can't um so this is an act Motown di that's kind of what does some of the work I think that transistor like tightens the signal and makes it it just takes all of my crud and like makes it sweetens it yeah makes it passible I think now I don't know how it does that but I think it sounds great yeah actually the first time I had one of those used one of those it was an Adrian studio and then we were on the road and and our front house guy Jeff bird at the time had one and so he's like we're not using the house ones we're going to use mine and so then I bought one cuz it sounded so so good yeah um and then a j a JH color box which I'm sure your viewers will be fam using that because I there's a lot of applications I know let me tell you I'm not no one's going to be proud of me for this but I use it I use it for overdrive so it gives it it's like the best overdrive pedal ever because it's so functionally flexible yeah yeah um but it's like using a chef knife to like chop down a branch or something you know it's I actually use it at home for preamp sometimes cuz it's so goodr yeah exactly so um yeah I use it for like the perfect amount of like like in the really dramatic moments I think there's like two or three in our set right now I'll kick that on and just shake just shake the rafters for like five seconds is that like a high point for you I do enjoy it yeah I do enjoy it and the lights come up you know it's like yes um yeah of course you know I mean you really like to get some of that amp sound you know and and I get enough amp sound but when you kick the thing on I'm here baby one one righteous signal you know yeah I can't tell you it's been a complete joy to talk to you and thanks for having me Che we're going to call talk to Brian about Eric's gear all right last but not least we were joined by Brian he had stepped in uh earlier kind of made a cameo handing the guitar to Adrien so Brian you're officially part of the Rig Rundown now thank you for doing this and you're going to cover Eric's gear yeah uh happy to be here how should we start uh I see a pair of Gibsons where should we where should we go uh Eric's kind of Main sound uh Eric started busking on the Santa Monica Pier with an acoustic guitar he used to take the bus from uh the city out to Santa Monica um and busk to make some money and uh play some songs so Eric at heart is an acoustic player um very much uh songwriter type where you just kind of meld your voice with the guitar kind of thing so archtops semi Hollows really work well for his aesthetic um musically visually like they just look great in in his hand you know the size fits so this archtop uh is a 59 and uh a sing all Vibe yeah single P90 it's super simple um it's just it's wonderful it's it sounds perfect I mean it's really Dependable um we've been all over the world with this guitar and uh so no issues being a hollow body and then because his tone is is very uh clean so he's just on the verge of breakup so he's un Wireless because of the the amount of movement that he that he does on stage um so we have a wireless unit off stage that we run through our sub snake Okay and we go XLR out of the sub snake and into a Di and we sometimes use a reamp a radial reamp um but right now we're using one of the jdis I Believe In Reverse so we're going from line level to instrument level and then going into the first pedal which is the uh tuner and then so that's kind of his signal into the amp that's a really uh not creative way but it's a definitely step up from normally just having like a sh pedal board tuner or something in the rack that's a very yeah we we had the TR aile the thing is is we're we're dealing with uh different outputs the pickups have you know different resistance and stuff so um we're using the the couple different packs we're running two wireless channels um so we're you know needing needing to have the separation um so we can control that off stage we're we're summing uh with a 2: one okay um and then you know basically he's only using you know we alternate between the two guitars depending upon what which song he's playing or which part of the set he's playing um but the thing with the archtop is that it's it's one that's great for a song like color [Music] um Stay Gold there's a new song called Tomorrow that he's playing it on um we do a cover of Fast Car a lot that this one works really well for because I saw him in the balcony a couple years ago with that guitar and it and that's a capable in the fifth fret so obviously you're going to be higher up the neck but it it works well the archtop works well for that as would does the semih hollow but the archt toop especially because it's got that Vibe of him busking yeah and it has that very acoustic raw clear kind of a sound you know that that we really like and and I would say this sound is definitive of Eric Burton's yeah tone and because of the wireless and the and the signal chain like the there's obviously gain introduced with wireless versus running cable in so we kind of control all that and and keep a really on the verge of breakup tone that sounds present uh full bodied um and clear and he is using both Reverb and the tremolo yep on on this one yeah the Reverb uh is is pretty much it's kind of prominent but it's we're only at three yeah so it's it's not super crazy um and then our tremolo is also at three and we kind of mix to taste every amp kind is a little different yeah um this is obviously our band owned but when we have backline you know rental sometimes you'll get an amp it doesn't respond till it's at 10 you know it just depends um but it's a really cool clear Woody tone that that Eric achieves with with what we have going on so and it goes really well with Adrian sound and obviously the whole band in full flight it's everything works together like a sandwich rather than like trying to stand out in one way or the other yeah and we've done a lot of promo and just kind of Duo uh filming and stuff like that and it's really cool when you when you isolate their two approaches and their tones yeah um in that type of setting because because Adrien comes from a very um Spanish background and his playing and his approach obviously with so much much finger um attack with that nail he's talking about percussiveness and uh then using the pick too and his lead playing and iic doesn't use picks he's all fingers so when he rakes across the strings it's he's using his his finger it's a part of his DNA rubbed off yeah and I don't I don't really know uh honestly if he ever used picks if that was anything that like he started or he just you know sometimes when you're playing it's like you lose a pick or you can't find a pick and you're like damn you know um but I think it adds warmth to his his tone um strings what should we know that's getting used on these Gibsons um so we're using didario thanks to Aaron at didario for hooking us up uh we're always 11 to 49s and uh sometimes we dabble with with flat wounds um on this one but lately we've just been sticking to round wounds for uh for everything but yeah he's he likes a a 11 11 gauge and I imagine standard on all the songs yeah we're all uh standard 440 which makes it pretty uh easy yeah and Breeze through the pedal board uh after the tuni you have a mosaic from DigiTech how's that getting used that's so that that pedal uh we do a lot of flying so we have you know any anyone that flies with with gear knows that you know you either checking on an airline or we have stuff freighted cargo place to place so adding additional items is you know another thing to keep track of another thing to weigh into the the cost of everything and just another thing to keep track of yeah um and so on the record he used a 12 string guitar on October 33 and he wanted to achieve that same sound um and to make that cohesive across semi you know full band gear owned band gear shows and our fly dates I said I think we can achieve that effect with some kind of pedal so we're still I think we're still deciding if we like this Mosaic but you know I started researching and I'm like oh 12 string uh simulators or emulators and and and this had the most feedback of what people thought was a close in the ballpark you know it does it doesn't have the same Cadence as a as a t string acoustic but they can be very cumbersome uh in transit so now is that for coming from you as a trying to find a solution for your artist you're supporting is that more of a a a workaround for Cartage and fees that you know cost that you said uh earlier or is it a thing you don't want to tune a 12 string guitar um you know that's that's a job into itself that's a job into itself I'm not afraid of tuning any type of acoustic I know how to do it on a live stage I I you know I have a lot of experience with it um the 12 string I think they sound amazing like they're just they're so dope um it's more about logistics to be honest you know and if and we do that song in every set so we do a lot of festivals so there'll be sometimes it's a headline set sometimes it's a 45 minutes sometimes it's an hour and it's like you know in those types of environments you know I I believe in consistency and you you deliver the same show every city in terms of like your approach you know that's how we it's like when you leave the house or you're in Hollywood drinking or whatever and you leave your wallet somewhere you know I've known to do that if if you have if you have your your wallet in the same spot all the time and you reach for it then you know it's going to be there you have you leave your phone at night on the same at the same spot or you you do creatures a habit and you do the same thing over and over again I'm a believer that that is a good way on the road to execute what we do which is packing everything in in boxes and unloading it the next place and knowing where everything is and knowing what to expect and when something's not working to know what it should sound like and be like oh that's not right I need to fix that or something's off or you know things like that that practical answer leads me to believe that you're a very uh efficient and well-mannered and uh very you know a well-to-do tech that should be in demand considering that that's that's your goal as as someone that's has this gig yes uh I definitely have a very articulate approach U and you performed so it's like you're also a player yeah I was a player you know for 15 years before I started teching so I understand exactly what it's like to be up here I've played every type of gig there is to play um so my uh what's the word my adaptation to different environments different clubs different Arenas different theaters different amphitheaters whatever I know kind of what to expect I know I'm always a couple steps ahead three four steps ahead sometimes um just to make sure that you have backup uh a back plan in place whether that be amps or extra cables or backup guitars or just like I got really good at ringing guitars tour with my band because I had one guitar that we could afford to bring each over to Europe and I had I used to play this uh the guys that own Lakeland Bas had a side company called Hansen guitars and I have a chicagoan and has a big b and anyone knows restringing a big be especially quickly it's very difficult uh with speed so I learned how to jump off stage and throw a string if I broke a string on that big spe before the next song started and so just being knowing where your strings are knowing like having a tuner off little things like that it bleeds into this this type of uh profession and I find that very useful while I got you before we get to the last Telecaster we will show off quick of Eric's collection here on the road what is something a guitar player or Tech should have on hand at all times to best save their ass in a moment whether it's strings or whatever it could be that you find yourself either having or it saved you what is that tool or item or does it have to be one could be whatever comes to mind okay for me something that I've always always believed in carrying is a screwdriver whether it's a multi you know multi- head different different Phillips or star bit or whatever yeah um because nothing's worse than being on stage and having a strap button or a strap block break out of the body or fall out of the body and and you know this it goes flying across the stage you know if you have a screwdriver and you just think to check those every now and then yeah that's important a tuner obviously is is important and making sure that you have backup batteries for things that might need battery power because that's also something that can be a showstopper if you're using batteries or something like that for for the gig so that's that's that's my Approach um obviously on the road we bring a lot more than just that yeah of course to plan for the worst kind of thing but uh yeah well you heard from Brian those are three things to put in your uh gig bag right now folks uh let's check out that t quick cool yeah all right tell me about this thing this is sparkly and shiny yeah this is a a prototype that Eric designed with Fender um kind of like one of your dream guitar situations of you know getting to design something from start to finish it's very clear uh it has great versatility with uh the single coil versus the P90 which obviously we know is you you know based on a single you know Sun bucker but uh this is actually a really hot P90 which is great uh and the Telecaster with the f-hole as a great resonation in line with his use of semih hollow and archtop type of guitars um the Bigsby uh is something that comes into play more as a toy it's not part of any song in particular um but this is a really reasonably weighted guitar considering the amount of metal on it yeah um and uh it plays great it's got great tension and uh he's got a cool uh oh nice balance symbol there Eric has some has some very good spiritual yeah values so uh and I we talked off camera with with kind of the Gold Hardware the pit guard and the the the purple finish kind of kind of gives a prince Vibe absolutely um this definitely has a a very vibrant feel and and something about Eric that I feel like translates through this guitar is that he takes Liberties all the time in terms of fashion and things that he wears yeah the guy can pull off anything yeah so to have a guitar that is as uh as Prince would be very glamorous man you to have a guitar that would emulate that type of thing I think is totally fitting for Eric Burt sure it's like a CP DeVille with six strings it's classy absolutely yeah totally I mean guitars it's age old tale they're kind of like a cool car or a hot rod you know or a hot chick it's like they're they're attractive in so many ways and it's something I guess if if you understand that passion then it makes sense to you and not everyone gets that but they're just they're wonderful I guarantee one thing Brian everyone that watches this gets what you're saying y but before we before we leave and uh exit the rhyme in Auditorium we got to hear the 59 sure because this thing is just beautiful and like Perry noticed when we pulled out of the Vault earlier that thing's thin like we don't see many of these off you know out of a museum case so like to get up close personal with one of these is yeah I'm I'm not like a super uh you know Museum knowledge person by any means but um I know that they made the 125 and then the 125t and this is the T because it's like the thin line or something along those lines the 125 is like a actual hollow body yeah it's like Scotty Mo and he was like kind of honked over that when he was playing but this one it just it has that bluesy kind [Music] of man and we're getting this through our lobs we're not actually plugged in this mic so whatever you're hearing don't discredit this guitar cuz what you're hearing it in is a beautiful room and it's a beautiful guitar and Brian I I really appreciate your time I know you're you're looking after all three guys today both Adrian and Brandon were a treat to be around and uh you are the same my friend thank you very appreciate your time uh you guys stay safe out there and keep rocking when you sound better you play better so you sound better [Music]

Channel: Premier Guitar

Views: 14,856

Keywords: guitar, guitars, guitarist, guitar player, electric guitar, fender, fender guitar, gibson, gibson guitar, gibson les paul, guitar gear, pedalboard, pedals, guitar pedals, premier guitar, black pumas, bruno mars, eric burton, adrian quesada, fire, fast car, luke combs fast car, black pumas colors, black pumas gear, black pumas guitar, rig rundown, rig rundowns, black pumas rig, pedalboards, black pumas live, fender telecaster, telecaster, jazzmaster, vintage guitar, vintage guitars

Id: 00Ko1bF7qSw

Length: 61min 43sec (3703 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 18 2024