out, I’m extremely happy
with the sound I’ve got.
We’re not like some people,
like J. Mascis who’s got his
old amp from 1968 that
he carries around, and
he’s very careful with his
pedals and wraps them
up in towels—we’re not
as precious as that, really.
We do spend a bit of time
getting the sound but the
difference between using a
Jazzmaster and a Les Paul
[takes care of a lot of the
tonal distinction].
of like Keith [Richards], but
the two [styles] complement
each other. Sometimes I
don’t know what Jimmy’s
doing, like the breakdown
in “Pile Up,” I’m not quite
sure what those strange
chords are.
TRW How did you decide
“This is the gear for me”?
J I’ve used Fender many
times over the years but
I’ve always been massively
disappointed. The
Marshall’s a classic, isn’t
it? It sounds dirty, and it’s
powerful. But I think the dirt
you get out of it is a very
acceptable level of dirt—it’s
like a clean dirty; it’s not
filthy. I’ve got a 50-watt
You’ve got to be happy with
the sound otherwise you
just can’t enjoy it. We’re
not obsessed with gear
or tubes; I flip my pickup
selector a lot between
songs, which I think makes
a bigger difference than
anything else—you flip the
switch and you’ve got a
new guitar.
A If you go back to when
we first played together,
the band I was in was more
[Echo and the] Bunnymen
style, I was into Will
Sergeant and stuff, whereas
Jimmy is much more sort
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