While back Steve wrote an article for Relix magazine in their Tools of the Trade section, which they titled "The Sound Hound." From that article, some folks had more questions for Kimock related to gear, which he was more than happy to answer, considering that gear is one of his favorite subjects.
1. What quality of sound do you seek when you plug into your Dumble vs. Two Rock?
The Dumble and the Two-Rock are as different from one another as they could possibly be, considering that they are aluminum chassis, both 2-6L6, stacked gain, effects loop, solid state rectifier, same output and power transformer…
The Two-Rock has all octal preamp tubes, no 9 pin 12Ax7 types at all, ao it is a significantly lower gain amp. It has a stiffer power supply, and a switch to allow it to be operated as a class A amplifier. The Two-Rock also benefits from an internal layout of components that uses virtually no wire, and no tinned braided cable anywhere.
All that having been said, the difference in sound between them is dramatic in terms of both frequency response and dynamic range. The Two-Rock has a huge fundamental by virtue of its low gain octal design and even when it's in its high gain mode it is extremely dynamic. This is all about the octal tubes. So when I want big clean headroom and fat low end, I plug into the Two-Rock and when I want the higher gain and compression, I use the Dumble.
When I just want giant sag, compression, distortion, etc. for a tube I plug into the DeArmond, single ended 6V6, big transformer, shitty little tube rectifier volume & tone, so the range of choices for me runs from clean, high headroom, to mush and no dynamic range…Two-Rock, Dumble, DeArmond…Thanks for asking, good question.
2. I have noticed that your stage volumes (Mitch's as well) seem to be very high producing a lot of your overall volume. What percentage of your volume is coming through the PA? Can you explain where you are coming from on this?
I have noticed this also, I guess the percentage of sound reinforcement to stage volume varies from venue to venue.
Where I'm coming from on this is I guess I played for years (decades anyway) in rooms where I couldn't count on the PA to get my point across for me, so I had to rely on my own production. This seems as good a time as any to try and get past that, but old habits die hard, and it's not proving to be an easy transition for me. I hate it when the music is too loud, it just ruins it for me, pitch-wise especially, and I'm trying to come up with a rig that will be purer sounding and less noisy right now. I think it was George Martin, the Beatles producer that said, "If it has to be loud to be good, it isn't." He's right and thanks for bringing some attention to a very important point.
3. What's the deal with the Sunburst Strat [the one with the Humbuckers] you have been playing, what year, where did you pick it up?
I've had that guitar for a long time, it's on a bunch of the Zero stuff, with the regular Strat pick-ups though. It's just a big headstock, hard tail stratocaster from the 70's, nothing special really, not sure what year. My good friend Larry Natalini found those pick-ups and installed them for me. I felt I needed a Fender guitar that I could rely on in clubs with bad A.C., lights, etc. Hence, the Humbuckers. The punch line is it sounds great like that, totally transformed, I love the Fender Humbuckers. I just like it, nothing special really. Oh yeah, I picked it up from my buddy Willy, who found it in a basement of a restaurant he was cleaning for salvage. I think I traded a reverb for it. Good deal, huh?
4. I've always loved the sound of your reverb with your sparkling clean tones. What's this reverb coming from? Anything special, or just reflecting the overall beauty of the tone you're getting from the rest of your rig? If it's spring reverb, what size tank, how many springs, etc.
5. (Related to 4) I was told that Steve's LXP-1 has been modified. If so, is this a special modification beyond the stock reprogramming stuff that's available?
It's coming from a cheesy little Lexicon LXP-1, a discontinued product from the 80's. They are available used between $150-300 bucks. Usually. It's nothing special really and if anything, hurts the tome as much as it helps it, just by virtue of necessitating the use of another tube stage, cables and connectors in the amp to run on it. (effects loop) Those things will kill you eventually, if you use too many (tube stages, cables & connectors).
The bonus application of the LXP-1 is before the amp. Guitar right into the LXP-1, split into 2 Fenders. That's my rental rig scheme, and it work's great. Hits the amps hard and cleans up when you back off your guitar volume really nicely.
The downside is that the little Lexicon is almost useless for the live musical instrument application without modification. The good news (dizzy yet?) is that the mod is still available from Audio-Upgrades in Van Nuys, CA.(www.audioupgrades.com) - $150 bucks plus shipping and handling. A great value I think for reverb on a budget.
Spring Reverb? I love spring reverb! The long tank 3 accutronics was my choice for many years, and lots of players and manufacturers swear by them, but I've come to the conclusion that the old 2 spring tanks are really the thing. Not new old stock but used. They sound better if they have some time on them. If you've got an old 2-spring tank somewhere from a Fender or whatever, try replacing the 3-spring in your Boogie or what have you, with the 2 spring. Tell me if you don't think it sounds more authentic. Also, all those tanks sound a little different so don't be shy to try a couple, you will have a favorite. You might also want to inspect the inside of the pan to see if it has any adhesive backed foam damping on it. My favorite 2 spring tank has none, and I swear it sounds better for it. Another good question, thanks!
6. What's the amp head with the Guild sticker?
Old 50-Watt Dumble. Don't tell anybody. Actually, my wife and I just recently restored the original faceplate so you can now see for yourself.
7. Do you use any amps in combination, through chaining or some other set-up? For example, you must push the DeArmond with something bigger, right?
Amps in combination, yes. I play in stereo a lot. The Dumble running 2 or 4 12's, depending on the size of the room, for one side and old Mesa-Baron power amp and on 2x12 for the other side. The stereo effect is achieved by using the Lexicon after the preamp of the Dumble (effects loop), its left and right outputs running the effects return stage of the Dumble and the input of the Baron, right? Right. So output stages in parallel.
The DeArmond trip is a little different. I plug into the DeArmond and use the entire amp and speaker and everything to generate a signal to send to the input of the Lexicon. I take the signal right off the speaker + & - lugs with an additional speaker wire and phone plug ('Pigtail' we call em) and run that into a box with a pot and resistor to drop the speaker level down to instrument level. That goes to the input of the Lexicon and into the output stages of whatever I'm using to push the speakers, Dumble and Baron typically.
The obvious advantage here is you get all the ripple and squash, and pleasant harmonic content of a little single ended amp with the headroom and imaging of the big stereo class A&B rig. You are separating your volume and tone functions entirely.
Output stages in series, right? Right. So, from my perspective I'm pushing the Dumble & the Mesa with the DeArmond, not the other way around as the wording of the questions implies. In either case, yes, you're right! Excellent question.
8. Do you put your effects in front of the pre-amp or in a loop between the preamp and amp? OR somewhere else?
I put effects all those places, yes. The Lexicon reverb is 100% a loop application for me in my regular rig. (Exerting those times when I choose to delete the loop entirely for one reason or another). Time based effects like digital reverb are almost always happier after the gain or distortion stuff.
Some effects just work better in front of the amp for me. I have a Memory Man delay that sounds real good in front of the amp, the little CE-2 chorus type stuff always sounds happier between the guitars and input. Somewhere else I have one guitar, the Cripes, that has a loop and preamp in it. Just like Jerry Garcia's guitars did. That allows you to put the effect in between the pick-up and the volume control of the guitar, sending a constant wide-open signal level to the input of the effect. For effects that like that kind of thing like envelope filters this is almost a necessity.
So the effects placement answer is:
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