Reeling In The Gear |
"In general, guitar gear sounds seriously good these days," says Becker. "It's a lot easier for me to get sounds now than it used to be." With the exception of rhythm parts - which were recorded direct - the tones on Two Against Nature were forged with a variety of amp/cabinet combinations. Bogner, Top Hat, and Bruno heads pushed various 4x12, 2x12, and 1x12 Celestian-loaded cabinets, and Becker also used a Mesa/Boogie Maverick combo. For direct tones, Becker played through a Mesa/Boogie Studio Preamp and a Boss SE-50 multi-effector routed through high-end Massenburg preamps and compressors.
On Nature, Becker relied on several Sadowsky solidbodies - each sporting two DiMarzio single-coils and a Sadowsky bridge humbucker. "The Sadowskys play and sound great, stay in tune, and are very versatile," he says. "In the old days my guitars were set up horribly! I used to play Denny Dias' Tele with the PAF pickups because it was set up so well. I did the solo on "Black Friday" [Katy Lied] with that guitar through an Ampeg v4 amp." On the road, Becker uses a Bogner Ecstasy head plugged into a Celestion-loaded Bogner 4x12 cab, and a Mesa/Boogie Maverick 2x21 combo. His Bob Bradshaw-designed rack houses a Mesa/Boogie Triaxis preamp. Drawmer compressors, a Lexicon PCM80, and two Roland SE-70s. |
Walter Becker and Sadowsky Solidbody
used for the PBS and VH-1 tapings Photo: Frank Ockenfeld |
| BACK TO TWO AGAINST NATURE |