Hello again. It’s me, Minx the Jinx Bang Bang – guitar #2 for Scary Cherry and the Bang Bangs. I don’t mind saying guitar #2 because Tony Coke Bang Bang really is guitar #1 when we play live. I don’t solo too much – just a few songs. I am thrilled to keep bashing the rhythm. It’s vital and keeps us sounding powerful. I like power. Yeah…

In the studio we both do solos and a lot of what Tony played in the studio I end up playing live and the same goes for him playing parts/solo’s I’ve recorded. We couldn’t give a shit as to who does what live – we just want it to sound good – besides, I’m pretty busy with the ‘color’ – sonic changes in our sound – not to mention the backing vocals. This brings me to today’s blog: My gear. I am very happy to report that I get endless compliments on my ‘tone’. I also get asked a lot about my gear. I have no qualms in telling people how I get my sound. And although it is MY SOUND, it has little or nothing to do with my gear! I know that there are a pile of musicians who protect the identity of their gear like it is a top secret CIA file. Well, Wikileak just put an end to those days so you may as well come clean about your gear folks! Josh Homme from Queens of the Stone Age is one of those secretive kind of guys. It’s pointless Josh and here’s why: Just because I may own a Fender Stratocaster, a 100 Marshall Amplifier, a Vox Wah Wah Pedal or a Dunlop Univibe – this is not in any way shape or form going to make me sound like Jimi Hendrix. I may be able to ever so vaguely emulate (in a very pseudo fashion) a certain measure of Jimi’s sonic texture but the real sound came from the man himself. Josh Homme uses a variety of pedals, such as ZVEX, Moog, Electro Harmonix, Fulltone, etc, but this will in no way make me OR YOU sound like Queens of the Stone Age. Josh Homme is a very unique guy who writes unique songs (and riffs) and I guarantee you he would sound just as good playing through a Pro Co Rat Pedal as he does through the ZVEX Hard On boost (nice pedal though). So with that in mind, and not thinking that anybody out there really cares to sound like me, here’s what I play through:

For clean sounds I go straight to my amp which is a Rivera 100 Duo 12. As the name implies, this is a 100 watt 2 x 12 amplifier. It is one of the first models of this style amp – made in the early 90′s. It has the stock Celestion G12-T55 speakers which have gotten a bum rap over the years. They sound excellent, are very focused with an awesome bass response.

For ‘slight’ crunch I click on the ‘Ninja Boost’ section of my clean channel. This adds a touch of boost but I have that channel set to almost strictly clean (very little gain) so it’s just a small step up from clean.

For the real crunch I kick in a Marshall BB-2 Blues Breaker pedal. This take the clean channel with the Ninja Boost to a new level of ecstasy. Very raw but controllable. I only use the boost part of this pedal. So I boost the boost. Great things happen when you do this. Sweet harmonics!

I like to enhance songs with different sonic textures, so for a chorus I might kick in my lead channel or I kick in an Electro Harmonix Little Big Muff PI for some fuzzy bottom end and over the top highs. I have everything on that pedal maxed (just like the one picture below). I also have older Big Muffs PI’s – (the bigger muff – there’s just something wrong with that statement…) but I don’t gig them anymore. They are not fragile or anything but I do revere them. Just FYI, the new Big Muffs DO NOT EVEN COME CLOSE in sound to the old ones. What? No way, dude. Not even close.

For soloing I go back to the Lead Channel of the Rivera amp (also know as the R-100 for the real guitar geeks) and I add the Ninja Boost of that channel. Paul Rivera is a god. They have a consumer friendly factory in Sun Valley California and are a bunch awesome guys (Paul Jr works there also) with a super cool staff that will actually pick up the phone and talk to you. I had to leave a message once after hours and received a call first thing the next morning. Yeah… excellent amps and service. Unlike Line 6 WHO SUCK!!! More on that a few paragraphs later. Now, where was I?

On the Scary Cherry and the Bang Bangs song ‘Original Sin’ I use a MXR Phase 90. This is the only time I use this pedal. It’s an old model that apparently is sought after. I have a new one also and can’t tell the difference. No really, I CANNOT TELL THE DIFFERENCE. Save your money. So there ya go!

I use a Digitech Whammy Pedal for sound fx only. I never use the Harmonizer part of this pedal. Maybe I should try it sometime.

I like to enhance solo’s with Wah Wah and I use this Morely Steve Vai Bad Horsie Wah more for convenience in a live situation (they are spring loaded and snap back to off when you let go) than for the sound – but they certainly don’t suck tone-wise. I just purchased the latest version of this pedal – The Bad Horsie 2 Contour Wah. But that’s for an update someday.

I use delay here and there and actually use 3 different delay sounds (short echo, long trailing delay and volume swell delay on the Bang Bangs song ‘Girl’) so I purchased the Line 6 DL4 because it offers 3 independent channels. This is my second one of these models. My original one – purchased when they first came out – lasted through many years of steel toed Doc Martens stomping. HOWEVER, always buy the protection package with these puppies if you are buying a new version because the chips and boards are faulty in a lot of these models (first a chip was replaced – then replaced again – and eventually the board also which cost $150 – the pedal was $250 – get the picture?). Line 6 were absolutely NO HELP AT ALL – in fact, they are SO FUCKING IMPORTANT that one can no longer speak to a human there. Line 6, I have lost faith in you. Anyways, here ya’ go.

So that’s it folks! Like I said, pretty simple. But if I play through Tony Coke’s rig (Mesa Boogie Stiletto Amplifier and Soldano 4 x 12 Cabinet loaded with Celestion Vintage 30′s) through one of his many BC Rich guitars – I still sound like Minx the Jinx Bang Bang.

Lots of love to you all. Thanks to Line 6 for being my Saturday hangover whipping boy.

P.S. Our new Backstage area will be up and running on our website soon and keep an eye out for Operation Winnebago!