Chords for Rig Rundown - Social Distortion's Mike Ness & Jonny Wickersham

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_ _ [A] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [Ab] Hey everyone, this is Chris Keys from PremierGuitar.com.
[F] I'm here with Johnny Wickersham and [Gbm] Mike Ness of [Bb] Social Distortion.
[Bbm] How are you guys doing today?
We're good man.
It's hot as ass here.
Well we're here hanging out with Council Bluffs here.
We'll see what you guys got for gear right now.
Johnny, you want to walk us through what you're using live right now?
Well, for the live stuff, I _ _ got a [Gb] couple old juniors.
I got a 55 junior and a 57 TV model _ that are staples in the _ quiver right now.
A [B] 54 gold top _ _ and my old Blackguard Tele.
[Gb] Oh yeah, that's right. _
Besides that one, it seems like that's the only one they don't have [B] P90s in.
Obviously you're not going to do that to [Gb] a Blackguard, but what's your affinity for a P90s?
_ _ _ You know [Bb] what, I actually started playing with Mike _ and I bought a 69 gold top. _
It had many humbuckers in it and I just [B] followed his lead and I put the Seymour Duncans that he plays in there.
It's been P90 ever since. _ _
For amps, I know that you're using the old guitars, but for amps you're using the Satellite.
What got you kind of hooked on those?
A friend of mine brought Adam down to a show we did in _ _ San Diego at the [Gb] Soma.
He brought that same head I'm playing right now down [B] there.
_ At the time I was playing an old _ _ Marshall Plexi Face 69 [Gb] Marshall and that was my number one head.
_ I thought [B] that amp blew it away.
It was so _ perfect for _ [Ab] the simplicity of a single [B] P90 with volume and tone.
_ _ Through a class A head with volume [Gbm] and tone, it was just perfect for what we do.
It was ideal.
[B] What would you categorize that tone that you're going?
I know your tech was saying it kind of goes with the AC30, [Gb] which is kind of what you're just rock and roll there.
Yeah, [B] but to me it doesn't sound like an AC30 at all.
I know it has the EL84s in there, but _ [Gb] _ to me it actually sounds like a big [B] Valco.
_ It's that class A sound, [Bb] man.
_ Mike, what have you got going on with your _ 70s Gold Tops?
What else do you run in there?
_ [B] I've had this rig for _ _ _ over 15 years now.
I look at my rig as a _ small block Chevy.
_ _ You just put the key in and turn it and it starts.
It runs itself.
_ I've got the _ 67 Blackface Bassman with a mod done by Fred DeCone divided by 13,
which allows me to get a nice _ tone [Ab] and a slightly lower volume.
My [Eb] first amp as a kid was a Fender Bassman on a [B] 212 cabinet.
I didn't even know how to play yet.
_ The only way you could get that thing to sound good was up at 10.
_ _ I lived across the street from a baseball park and the park would [Abm] carry the sound to the other side.
The cops [Bb] would come and they'd say,
would you at least learn how to play Smoke on the [B] Water right? _ _
Seems like everyone learns with those three chords, huh? _ _
_ _ Later on it was natural to go back.
In the _ _ [Bb]
late 80s, early [B] 90s I was having that battle between Fender, Marshall, Fender, Marshall.
[Gb] _ _
I ended up with both.
I've got the 50 watt [Bb] head powering two vintage cabinets.
That's eight speakers, [B] eight 30 watt speakers. _
It spreads nice.
_ The Les Paul Deluxe is a _ _ trick I learned from Neil Young.
Larry Craig, his tech.
[Db] When we toured with Neil Young in the early 90s,
[B] _ _
_ _ _ [Bb] that's what I did the whole time.
I watched [B] him play every night and I picked his brain about tone. _ _ _ _
[Bb] I would watch Larry Craig get a _ _ _ [Bb] 70s Les Paul Deluxe, _
pull out that thin mini humbucker,
[B] _ _
_ drop it into the wastebasket, _ _
_ _ and put the P90s in. _
_ For me, the P90 is that creamy, warm tone that _ _ I'll put up with the hum any day, _
[E] just because [Gb] that's become part of our sound.
The Gold Tops are _ 76s.
[Bb] They've got the Mabel neck.
There's something about [Dbm] that combination of the Mabel neck [Eb] being capoed, [B] the paint, _ _ _
and the amps.
My other [Bbm] guitars are a little earlier, _ 75s maybe,
with a mahogany neck [B] with no capo.
I like to use a lot of open [Bb] strings.
_ Because I told you I injured this [B] finger _ as a [Dbm] kid, _ _
_ that's how I do a name.
_ _ [E] _
_ _ _ _ [Db] _ It's like Django on a slightly [B] smaller scale.
We'd be remiss if we didn't talk about your guys' acoustics right now.
What do you have playing here?
This has probably written a lot of songs, I'm sure.
[Bb] _ Yeah, this is [B]
the Balladier guitar.
This is a _ 1939 _ J35.
_ [Em] I write everything on this [Gb] guitar.
_ [Eb] That's where it [Gb] all starts. _
_ _ _ _ It very rarely leaves the house.
The only way this will leave the house is if a bus is picking us up in California
and dropping us off in California.
[Eb] It would never put us on a plane or a cargo.
It's just something about it.
Last year I bought a _ _ _ 1940 Martin D18.
Same week I bought this.
I mean, I have several of these.
_ _ Same week I bought this.
[F] I got it at home.
I'm like, I got a Martin now, dude.
[B] It's like, set them up every single day.
I look at them, _ _ [F] went to the J35.
[Bb] What's this one that's in your hands here?
This is my 47 _ [Gb] J45. _
_ _ It's kind of a beater.
It's got a bunch of cracks and shit.
_ _ _ _ [Bb] It's kind of a good road guitar in that sense.
[Ab] It's [Gb] been worked on and everything.
_ LR Baggs pickup system, [N] which has got the end of the saddle
and it's got the _ [Ab] microphone.
_ [Abm] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [Gb] I've been through a bunch of these J45s.
I had an all _ _ _ mahogany maple neck one with the real [B] early banner year
with a huge, huge [Gb] neck.
It was a little _ too big sounding.
It was actually so big [N] that it was kind of too much.
[Abm] This is like the perfect one. _
[B] _ _ We use this on [Bb] stage.
So what's entailed for the new album?
How's that coming along?
It's coming great, man.
[Ab] _ The [Bb] record should be called Tones
because we recorded at a very old school, _ _ Ocean Studios in Burbank
had _ _ an amazing neat board with every piece of outboard gear you could imagine,
_ _ Pultecs and _ Fairchilds.
_ I _ worked with a really good engineer, _ _ Dwayne Barron,
and _ he was able to get [G] everything that I [Eb] needed,
whether from the drum sounds or the [G] guitar [Eb] tones or the vocal [Bb] mics.
_ _ I mean, we really learned on [Bb] this record that less is better.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
Get your tones good to tape, _ and then _ EQ it, and you're [F] good.
So were you guys bringing a lot of other [Bb] gear in,
or were you kind of sticking to what [Gb] you guys were using on the stage and [B] everything?
_ It was basically what _ [F] we used on stage,
although _ [Abm] sometimes I would use both my head and his,
so the satellite and [C] the bassman.
[G] Another thing about this new record [Bb] that's kind of new for you guys,
[Bbm] or especially for you, is producing.
So how's that been so far?
How do you enjoy being the producer in the [Bb] project?
I love it.
I mean, I love it.
[Bb] Just being at the helm just allows you to be _ [Gb] so much more focused
[Bb] and _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ hypersensitive, you know?
It's like, it's not right, let's [Eb] do it again, let's do it again. _ _ _
_ _ It's been a great experience for me.
Do you [Bb] guys have a title nailed down for sure?
The name of the record is Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes.
It's a metaphor [Abm] for a lot of what's going on now in our _ _ economy,
but also [Ebm] just how, _ [Db] I mean, I have [Bb] people all the time telling me,
your [Db] music's got me through some [B] hard times, bro, and I said, me [Bb] too.
So I just have one last thing to say in relation to guitars.
If you don't have your tone, _ you might as well just go home.
_ [Gb] Thank you guys very much.
Johnny, _ thank you very much.
Mike, thank you for your guys' time.
You're watching PremiereGuitar.com, and this is Chris for Premiere Guitar Magazine.
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