Here are Slash's amp settings (click to see way bigger – stoof photo).

Close-up pics of the prototype Slash signature Marshall AFD100 amp were recently posted by user “stoof” at mylespaul.com. Veeeeeery interesting, especially if you’re a Slash fan and maybe an amp builder – or just want to try his knob settings.

Apparently the prototype is done enough that Slash loves it, so production should start soon with the amp for sale at retail late this year. What’s it sound like? Listen:

I’m no expert, but to me that sounds like an amp with 6550 power tubes. And I believe Slash’s favorite Marshall JCM800 (a 2203, meaning a 100-watter) has 6550s (see pic). Also:

> In this Marshall vid, Slash’s guitar tech (I guess) says Slash “definitely really likes that really aggressive, high-wattage sound” of 6550s – even though the first Slash signature Marshall uses EL34s. Slash also says 6550s are “harder-sounding” and says it’s important to warm them up so “they’re not too abrasive.”

> Marshall also said this about the protoype: “The prototype you have seen in the pictures is built on a standard JCM800 2203 chassis with custom preamp based on both his #34 amp and the AFD tone plus the added effects loop. The power amp has a couple of minor tweaks and has 6550 output valves fitted. Everything is valve circuitry.”

HOWEVER, are you seeing the distinctive big-bottle shape of 6550s in the pics of the prototype? I’m not. To me they look more like 6L6s or 5881s. But I’m not an expert.

Here's the amp. What tubes do you see? (Click to see it bigger – stoof photo.)

Here are the 6550s in Slash's favorite JCM800 (click to see bigger).

And then there’s the fact that the amp the AFD100 (as in Appetite for Destruction, the first GnR album) was based on likely was an EL34-powered amp. As noted on slashsworld.com:

“The amp was a 100W Marshall Super Tremolo (Model 1959T), built sometime between 1965 and 1973 [and powered by EL34s – Marshall didn't start replacing EL34s with 6550s (for hardiness reasons) I believe until the '80s]. The amp was a hand-wired, pre-master volume model, although it is unclear whether the head was of the plexi [faceplate of plexiglass] variety (‘65 through mid-’69) or the later metal-panel variety (mid-’69 through mid-’73, since Marshall replaced hand-wiring with printed circuit boards in mid-’73).”

This legendary S.I.R. #39 head was of course modified by a tech who worked for S.I.R. (gear rental outfit in L.A.) in the ’80s – the tech was Tim Caswell, who still mods Marshalls along those lines. From the slashsworld site: “Tim got the idea for his unique modification after noticing that S.I.R. had lost the footswitch required to operate the tremolo on the 1959T. One slow day at S.I.R., he came up with the idea of using the 1959T’s tremolo circuit [powered by an extra preamp tube] for hot-rodding the amp.”

So there it is: An extra gain stage added to a Marshall, a common mod, maybe with a few other tweaks. So why the distinctively great sound? Maybe the tweaks, though Caswell had done similar mods on other S.I.R amps and remember that all Marshalls of vintage age were slightly different from one another. That amp just had “it.”

Will the new AFD100 have it? I’d bet yes. It’s a Slash amp, in the vid he seems genuinely happy with it. I’m not a huge Slash fan, but I look forward to hearing it.

Notable

> Marshall noted that the AFD100 amp will have “two inputs, Gain, Master, EQ, Presence and an output power control plus the #34 switch, all in the late 70’s JMP style box.”

> Slashsworld.com has a very cool story about how Slash really did NOT tour with the S.I.R. #39 amp, as he recollects, but actually with S.I.R. #36. Read it here.

> Here’s a vid of Slash playing the prototype (beware – he says the F word right at the beginning). Slash fans: How does it sound?

Here's a shot of it (SeymourDuncan.com photo).

In September we posted that a new Slash Les Paul was in the works, along with new signature pickups. Well, with the winter NAMM show just weeks away, details about lots of products are beginning to trickle out, including the new Slash pickups. Here’s what we know.

From the Seymour Duncan website:

“Though he has dozens of amazing guitars, since 1986 Slash has used pretty much one very special Les Paul for all recording [more on this below]. The Alnico II Pro Slash was designed to give Slash’s other Les Paul guitars – what he calls his “live guitars” – the exact tone of this legendary instrument.

“Like the standard APH-1 Alnico II Pro [a Duncan pickup, long Slash's favorite], this pickup uses an Alnico 2 magnet [warm, fewer highs and lows than an Alnico 5 mag]. However, the Slash model is wound with just enough boosted output to push a stock Les Paul toward the sweet sustain and rude crunch that characterizes Slash’s sound as heard on hundreds of tracks. In addition, it comes with some of the same appointments found on the Seymour Duncan pickups in Slash’s ‘86 recording axe, including single-conductor cable, long-legged bottom plate and wooden spacer. For the true fan, or the player who wants to capture Slash’s recorded tone, this pickup is a critical part of the tone chain. This is same pickup found in the newest Gibson Slash model Les Paul.”

So it sounds like a slightly boosted Alnico II Pro.

Here’s what Evan Skopp, who handles marketing for Duncan, said in a thread on the Duncan forum:

“Here’s the deal with the new Slash pickup. Virtually all the recordings you’ve heard Slash play on since 1986 were made with one guitar. Contrary to popular opinion, it’s not a Max: it’s a Derrig ,and it has stock Alnico II Pro pickups [Max and Derrig are two famous Les Paul clone builders]. The reason he uses that guitar, as opposed to any of his dozens of other Les Pauls, is because the Derrig just has a livelier, punchier sound. When he plays live, he’s less critical, but for recording, it’s almost always the Derrig.

“The new Slash pickup lets his other Les Pauls, what he calls his ‘live guitars,’ sound like the Derrig. That’s it. More details will be forthcoming shortly. But for now, we have to get the finishing touches on our NAMM presentation together.”

Duncan forum user “J Moose” also added these points:

> “The pickups in the Appetite guitar (the infamous [Derrig] copy) were stock off-the-shelf Alnico II [Pros]…. Nothing special, same ones that everyone else buys are the ones he’s been using for all these years. ”

> “The new pickup came about because the Appetite guitar sounded better than anything that Gibson has sent him….”

> “It’s said to have a hair more ‘body’ and bite.”

That’s all we know so far. Stay tuned!

And old photo of Slash.

Most people swore Jimmy Page only used a Les Paul, but we now know about the Fender Telecasters. Jimi Hendrix apparently used a Tele on the Purple Haze solo. Virtually everyone thinks Steve Gaines used a Strat on Skynyrd’s “I Know a Little,” but it turns out it might have been a Les Paul.

Point is, our eyes and assumptions can deceive our ears. So it was with great interest that I went and listed to Velvet Revolver’s “Sucker Train Blues.”

I ran across a July 2004 Guitar One magazine (remember that one?…my favorite mag at the time) interview with Slash when Velvet Revolver’s first album, Contraband, was coming out.

Here's the Strat he used on the solo...LOL! (fender.com photo)

In the interview, Slash says he used a Tele for the rhythm parts of “Sucker Train Blues,” and a Strat for the lead – “really unheard of for me!” he said. The question I had for myself was whether I could hear it.

That is, now that I know, I will hear it. But would it sound that much different than Slash playing a Les Paul – assuming the signal chain and amp was virtually the same? (Slash said he used his signature Marshall most of the time for that album, but also a couple of Fenders and a Vox.)

In other words, once again, is someone’s tone mostly in their fingers/style?

You be the judge. Here’s the studio version of the tune (the solo starts at 2:47)….

…and here’s a live version from 2005. Live, Slash seems to have played his signature BC Rich Mockingbird on this tune, presumably because it has a whammy bar.

Lately, Slash has been spotted playing only a Les Paul (no surprise), but one that is not one of his many signature Les Pauls (a surprise). Naturally lots of people have been curious about the guitar.

Here’s what I could find on it, courtesy of the fine folks at at the mylespaul.com forum (for the heads-up) and Andy Brauer. If Andy’s name sounds familiar, that’s because he’s a well-known guitar guy (repair, alteration and, most importantly, improvement), and was recently involved in helping Gibson reproduce Slash’s “Appetite”-era Les Paul clone.

This time Andy is involved because Slash’s new favorite is Andy’s former R9, meaning a reissue of a holy grail ‘59 Les Paul Standard. In this case, the reissue is an ‘07 and is nicknamed the “Brauer Burst” – I guess unless Slash starts calling it something else!

It’s not a stock R9, as you might expect from someone with Andy’s knowledge. What did he do to it? A lot. Here’s more on the guitar, from a Facebook page and Twitter posts:

Andy: “I installed vintage tuners and replaced knobs, toggle tip and truss cover with genuine 1950s Gibson parts…the pickup rings, jack plate and pickguard were changed to Vintage Clone.

“This R9 has Sheptone PAF pickups. Another tonal improvement: I installed vintage Sprague bumblebee capacitors.”

Andy Brauer

We can all understand that the pickups and caps will result in a tonal improvement. But how about the rest? I mean, would anyone seriously want old tuners? According to an interview with Andy in the January ‘09 Vintage Guitar magazine, the answer is yes. Some excerpts:

> “Much like old wood, old plastic has a timbre you can hear if you tap it with your finger.  Changing the rings and pickguard for vintage-clone plastic will help tone.”

> “Many modern guitars are assembled with ‘lock-in’ bushings – metal rings that go through the hole in the headstock into which the tuner post slides. These compress and inhibit the transfer of sound from the string to the guitar.”

> Plus there’s the surgical tubing trick.

Andy has some pics of a Brauer-improved Les Paul on his MySpace page, as well as pics of the VG interview – which you can read if you get close enough to the screen.

Re: the pickups, the Sheptone pickups Andy is referring to presumably are the AB (for Andy Brauer) Customs, which Sheptone owner Jeff (last name?) calls a variation on his Tribute set. Here are the specs:

Specs, AB Custom Set
2 conductor – stock
Output – lead 8.30 K
Output – neck 8.10 K
> Andy sells these for $289 per pair, which includes a choice of nickel or gold covers, aged or new and aged comes with four aged screws.
> Sheptone sells these for $249 per pair ($125 single), but only in black, zebra or reverse zebra.

Specs, Tribute Standard Set (PAF “clone”)
2 conductor – stock
Output – lead (7.99) K – 8.00 K
Output – neck 7.62 K
> These are $269 per pair, same choices, from Andy.
> From Sheptone they are $229 per pair (same three options as above), $125 single.

These pickup prices may look expensive, but are about the same as Seymour Duncan Custom Shop pickups.

The bottom line is when it comes to the Brauer Burst: Slash loved it so much that he eventually wrangled it from Andy – for a pretty penny, I bet. As Andy has written, “I originally owned that LP, Slash owns it now and it has become his favorite/main guitar. I’m like a proud papa to that LP burst.”

Notable

> Andy Brauer’s website is andybrauer.com.

> In the late ’90s the Gibson Custom Shop produced the Slash Snakepit Les Paul (75 total), and then an Epiphone version.

> Next up was a tobacco sunburst plain-top Standard, produced in 2004. Not sure if an Epiphone version was produced (Slash fans, chime in!).

> Then came the plus-top (flame maple) Slash Gibson Les Paul Standard in antique vintage sunburst, followed by an Epiphone model.

> That was shortly followed by a Slash Goldtop (released in 2008) and matching Epiphone model.

Now Gibson is in the beginning stages of producing an “Appetite [for Destruction]” Les Paul, which is interesting because the Les Paul that Slash used for that record wasn’t a Gibson: It was a replica of the holy grail of all Les Pauls, a 1959 ‘burst, made by luthier Chris Derrig.

Here’s the story of how Slash got the guitar, as told by Slash to Vintage Guitars magazine:

“When I was in the studio doing the basic tracks for Appetite, [G&R manager] Alan Niven brought this Les Paul for me to use because I was having a really hard time getting a good sound. I was getting a little frantic at that point because we weren’t on the kind of budget – nor did I have the attention span – where we could wait around forever.

“It became my main guitar for a really long time. And because I couldn’t afford a whole handful of that sort of thing, I took it out on the road for all of Guns’ early touring. In fact, I almost lost it during an early tour. It was stolen from me once in the crowd. I was being an idiot, leaning over the audience and getting pulled in, and some guy just grabbed it. I freaked once I realized that it was off my person, that I’d completely lost control over it. But our security guys went out and caught the guy before he left the building. That’s happened to me a couple of times.”

So this might be the first time that Gibson has decided to make a replica of a replica of a Gibson. No word on when the guitar will be available in stores, but expect it to cost major bucks like any Les Paul signature axe.

The Rev BFG playing Slash's Derrig LP. (Slash photo)

Here’s what Slash twittered about the guitar:

“The new Les Paul is going to be tight, the best Slash model yet, without a doubt.

“We’re going to call the new Les Paul ‘Slash Model’ the ‘Appetite’ guitar. It is modeled after the guitar I recorded that album with.” But then he wrote: “We’re not calling it [the] ‘Appetite Les Paul’ literally. [That's] just the working title. It will be a Slash ‘59 reissue when it comes out.

“It will be my tribute to Les Paul, the man and mentor.

“It will have special features not found on normal reissues, exactly like the ‘86 handmade LP I’ve been recording with since ‘87.” [No word yet on what those may be.]

New Pickups

Significantly, the Derrig-made ‘Appetite’ guitar had Seymour Duncan Alnico Pro II pickups (with alnico II magnets) in it, which have remained Slash’s favorite pickups. (It’s possible that that guitar originally didn’t have Seymours, as someone who knew Derrig posted in a thread on thegearpage.net.)

Alnico Pro IIs are in all Slash signature Les Pauls, even the Epiphones – but won’t be in the ‘59. Here’s what he twittered about that:

“Working with Seymour Duncan [on] designing special pick ups for the new Les Paul.

“The pickups are Alnico [Pro] IIs, but with subtle design differences to make them as they were made in 1986.”

Then, presumably after trying them, he typed: “The new pick ups are bad ass.”

Why is this significant? Because there have been rumors that the older versions of certain models of Duncan pickups are better. True or not?

Duncan employee Evan Skopp said this about it on the Seymour Duncan forum: “Slash has hundreds of Les Pauls amassed over twenty-something years, each with Alnico II Pro pickups and each sounding pretty much the same. However, he has one guitar in particular [the above guitar] that has a brasher, more aggressive sound than all his other Gibsons. That’s the guitar he uses for recording. The idea was to create a pickup set he could use in his live guitars that would duplicate the more aggressive sound of his recording guitar.”

Evan wouldn’t say anything more than that.

Notable

> Andy Brauer, a guitar and amp tech in north Hollywood, twittered this recently: “Met today with Slash and techs from Gibson Custom Shop. Gave input on design of a new Slash signature Les Paul model. Exciting stuff.”

> According to a Slash fan site, Slash uses Ernie Ball Slinky R.P.S. strings, gauged 11-48. He likes to play with the heavy picks and prefers purple Dunlop Tortex 1.14 mm picks.

You may recall that Chickenfoot was the stand-in name, and now looks like the official name, of the Joe Satriani, Sammy Hagar, Michael Anthony, Chad Smith (Red Hot Chili Peppers) super group.

They said an album and tour were coming in ‘09 – in fact they are supposed to be cutting songs right around now – and it looks like they’re gradually making good on that claim, in the public eye.

The latest is a Chickenfoot website, sort of. It’s really just a placeholder homepage, but has some (a little audio). Click here to hear it.

Several on-line sources pointed out recent comments by Mike (”We’re getting close to mixing this thing”) and Sammy: “We got in the studio and recorded eight demos in two days. The chemistry is everything in a band. The band changes one guy, sometimes the whole damn thing changes — look what happened when I joined Van Halen. But with this band, the chemistry is awesome. It’s the best chemistry I’ve ever experienced, better than the Montrose chemistry, better than the Van Halen chemistry.”

Yeah! Can’t wait to hear it.

In other Sammy news is a long two-part interview (part 1 and part 2) with Imhotep, which looks like it’s some kind of non-U.S. on-line magazine. Anyhow, in it, Sammy manages to talk sh*t about just about everyone in the Van Halen camp, but in his nice way – seriously! Below are a few highlights of the interview.

Do you understand Dave’s decision to not attend the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame ceremony because Velvet Revolver was playing instead of Van Halen?

“I don’t think that was it. I know the guys in that band. Dave was calling them up every day driving them crazy to get them to let him sing with them. That’s why it got all screwed up, because Dave wanted to do it his way. And they were only allowed to do 2 songs, and he was trying to do 2 songs with them and not me. Dave was playing his bullshit Dave-games and he fucked it all up! And cause they told him “No, Sammy’s gonna’ sing a song and you’re gonna’ sing a song with Velvet Revolver’ and Dave said fuck you, then I am not coming.”

On the Sammy/Dave co-tour:
“I know this sounds crazy, you gauge the bands that you have as an opening act, if they sell a huge amount of t-shirts the people usually like them. He didn’t sell any t-shirts. He is still trying to sell his t-shirts for 5 dollars a piece, on tour they are 40. He was so embarrassed that he would sell 100 shirts and I would sell 7,000, and it was completely obvious that the fans were walking way going: Man, what the fuck was that? You can make people cheer anyway you want but will they come back and see you? Dave tried to get back on tour and it was a disaster because he ruined everything.”

How do you feel about Velvet Revolvers tribute to Van Halen at Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame?

“I don’t think it was very good and I really like those guys. It was unfair to take a young band like that, that had only been together for one album and try and make them try to be Van Halen. I think it was a little bit of a mistake but it wasn’t their fault cause they are great and I like those guys a lot, they are really good friends. Slash is a great guitar player when he is playing his stuff. But for Slash to try and play Eddie’s stuff was wrong. They should have had Steve Vai or Joe Satriani, or somebody like that to play the part. They should have had a legend induct and put together a great bunch of players who are more adapted to Van Halen to do the tribute.”

On the VH reunion tour with Sammy (2004, I think):
“Everyone said Eddie was all buffed, he looked good, but he wasn’t fucking buffed. He was skin and bones, he had some muscle tone but everyone has muscle tone. The guy had no teeth, he never ate, and he was falling down, hurting himself. Some nights he played so bad that I was embarrassed. He had moments of brilliance, don’t get me wrong. I played with Eddie for 11 years before that, I probably heard him make 5 mistakes in 11 years, he played perfect every night and this was not even close to that. On that tour, he couldn’t play a single note right. I want the world to know why I am not interested in doing that again. If he gets sober and he straightens out and if his mind isn’t deteriorated and he can play great again and be the great Eddie Van Halen that I know and love, I would be glad to go out and sing in his band again. I would be honored to.”

On Montrose’s short run:
“Ronnie wasn’t a songwriter because he wasn’t a singer; he was just a guitar player. So, he would get really frustrated about it because I was getting a lot of attention. Ted Templeman wanted my songs for the new album. But then Ronnie would say: “no no no were not using any of Sammy’s songs on this record”. And I thought, fucking why not? We were out on tour, working our asses off and not making money. We were pretty poor and having a hard time. And they put us out on tour for a year and a half. All of a sudden we come home to do a record and I had written songs on the road and Ronnie didn’t want to hear them. His jealousy caused the band to break up. I mean Ted loved the songs but wanted Ronnie’s opinion. And you all know what Ronnie’s stance was on that issue. I didn’t understand what it was but looking back now; Ronnie’s ego wouldn’t let him play second fiddle in “his” band. He never said anything; he didn’t put me in line. He just rejected me and then kicked me out. I was pushing but to no avail. Ronnie just didn’t want me to get famous. It was really a shame.”

But Sammy did add:
“Without Ronnie Montrose I would have been nothing. He taught me how to be what I am today. Without that lesson I might not have been who I am now.”

On the VH3/Cherone album:
“There was a lot of music on there that we were working on and then Gary Cherone came in and wrote new lyrics and sang it, and it was horrible. Gary Cherone is a great singer and he’s a great guy but that record was horrible. It ruined his career. He became the guy that ruined Van Halen. This isn’t true because Eddie Van Halen ruined Van Halen. I don’t care what anyone says – I’m not dogging Eddie. I’m saying he’s the guy responsible, he’s the guy that fired me, he’s the guy that got Gary Cherone at that horrible time, he’s the guy that continues to fuck the band up. He’s the guy that can’t work with Dave; he’s the guy who can’t work with me. He’s the guy that won’t go into the studio and make a record. He says that he’s in the studio everyday. My answer to that is, if you’re in a studio everyday, then where’s the fucking record? I’m not trying to condemn him; I’m not trying to ruin him.”

I’ll leave you to wade through the whole thing, but here are what I thought were the most interesting quotes.
Axl going off on everyone, particularly Slash. Interesitng quote below, though.

> The whole ‘Axl wouldn’t go on stage, yada yada’ is complete and utter crap. Never happened, all made up, fallacy and fantasy.

> When Guns renegotiated our contract with Geffen I had the bit about the name added in as protection for myself as I had come up with the name and then originally started the band with it. It was added to the contract and everyone signed off on it. It wasn’t hidden in fine print etc as you had to initial the section verifying you had acknowledged it.

> Why keep the name? I’m literally the last man standing. Not bragging, not proud. It’s been a fucking nightmare but I didn’t leave Guns and I didn’t drive others out. With Slash it’s been nothing more than pure strategy and saving face while manipulating the public like he used to me.

> Slash never had ANY arguments for keeping the name until long after and again I feel that had a lot to do with seedy biz types and him feeling he had to save face.

> When the reality of the breakup hit and the strategy to have me crawl back was put into play, Slash had to save face and get [a] business team and public support. Painting me as the one who held a crowd hostage forcing the others to sign over the name worked out pretty well in that regard. I’m the bad guy and Duff, the fans and most importantly himself were the victims. Oh, and they had actually made the sacrifice for the crowd, the people, the fans at the show. But again…. IT NEVER HAPPENED.

> Had I not done this [presumably Chinese Democracy, the new album] Slash would have succeeded in destroying me publicly much more than he, others or myself have so far, and I would have gone bankrupt.

> [Before the break-up he allegedly had] 3 to 4 hour phone conversations nearly every day with Slash trying to reach a compromise. I was specifically told no lyrics, no melodies, no changes to anything and to sing what I was told or fuck off.

> Guns did not have specific lifelong criteria to follow, and many of the influences on Appetite were abandoned by the others long before me. In fact Slash hated a good portion of those on Appetite and wasn’t all that into the involvement or association, but knew it worked at the time and realized it was the cusp of a wave that was growing. It’s a trip for me to witness as so many of the people he performs with — he hated…them, their bands and their music where the others or I were the fans.

> That [Zakk Wylde in the band] could’ve worked on some level but like Guns it would’ve been up to those two [Zakk and Slash?] and their relationship. They talk nice, but it wasn’t pretty…but it was pretty awesome!

And my personal, apolitical favorite:

> Sweet Child wasn’t in any way trying to write a “hit” mainstream song. It was trying to write the best Guns N’ Roses Lynyrd Skynyrd-influenced song we could as tribute and recognition in the tradition of Tuesday’s Gone With the Wind or Simple Man…and at a time when nothing could have seemed more unpopular.

King’s X opened and they were awesome as usual. What a great, musical, unpretentious, unique band — if that’s enough adjectives for you. They played for an hour, a few new tunes, the rest “old.” I have not heard the new XV CD yet but hear it’s good — and the new tunes they played were good.

If you’re unfamiliar with the venue, Irving Plaza is a small place. The show was sold out and I’d be surprised if even 1,000 people were there. I mention this because the best part of the King’s X set was, for me, Doug singing Music Over My Head with the crowd, nobody in the band playing. It was like being part of gospel music, very organic. Doug was off the mic, but you could clearly hear him. he also took out his in-ear monitors to hear the crowd. Very cool.

It also really struck me this time (I’ve seen them several times before) how Doug has that rock star presence and the other guys, whom I like and are good, sort of are in the background by comparison. Don’t know if it matters, but I felt it and so did my buddy.

Guitar gear-wise, Ty had some kind of two-humbucker Tele-shaped guitar with a Les Paul-style hardtail plugged into Egnater amps. As usual, he had a heavily processed signal. He mostly played chords — not much riffing or lead work. But when he did fire a few shots, they were head-turners. More, Ty, more!

Extreme was great, and in saying that bear in mind I have high standards — meaning ’80s standards! They were tight as hell — vocals, harmony vocals, new drummer is better than the old one to my ears, and Nuno hasn’t lost a thing. In fact he might be even better.

It was great to see a guitarist who is so rhythmically oriented and who has EVH-of-old-like chops. One time during a nutty run Nuno faked yawning, just having fun. It was amazing to see again how tough some of the Extreme stuff is to play — last time I saw them was in the ’90s.

And how about playing that stuff and singing flawless backing vocals?! Holy crap!

It was almost a relief to see that getting older doesn’t mean you have to lose or tone down your chops. Thanks Nuno!

Gary sang great (even though he was sick, apparently), Kevin Figueiredo is a good drummer and in a year of unsung bassists (Michael Anthony, anyone?) Pat Badger deserves a big shout for being a hell of a musician. He plays some of the same runs as Nuno does and is a damn good singer too.

The band played about five songs off the new CD, which I bought there and have now listened to about four times. It’s good, and somewhat diverse, which has been a calling card for Extreme. “Saudades de Rock” has funk-rock, ballads (couple piano or acoustic guitar tunes) and even a country quick-pickin’ tune.

Here’s the Wikipedia definition of Saudades — bear in mind that Nuno is of Portuguese heritage: “Saudade (singular) or saudades (plural) (pronounced [sawˈdade] in Galician, pronounced [sawˈdadɨ] in European Portuguese) is a Galician and Portuguese word for a feeling of nostalgic longing for something or someone that one was fond of and which is lost. It often carries a fatalist tone and a repressed knowledge that the object of longing might really never return.”

At the show, Nuno played only his N4 through what I take it are his new signature Randall amps, not yet out on the market. The sound was very good, old-school, very raw — Plexi-like instead of JCM 800-like. One could, and would, say: Woody! Couldn’t see his effects, but his favorite was a flanger. Heard what sounded like an MXR Blue Box-type effect a time or two.

If Nuno isn’t on the cover of one of the guitar mags soon, it will be a crying shame. I’ve read stories about Satch and Slash and Zakk being the “last of the guitar heroes.” Nuno better be on that list too.

Maybe it’s not worded right, maybe I’m reading it wrong, but if it’s what it looks like, I’d hate to have the last name DeLeo and run into the VR guys.

What does this have to do with woodytone? Hmmmm. Let’s stretch a bit and say that Dean DeLeo has been known to create a woodytone or two — but not have a consistent woodytone — so if he gets his knuckles broken by, say, a tobacco-sunburst Les Paul, no more wood!