Neil Young Guitars
Neil Young Interview on Guitars
Guitare & Claviers Magazine (French)
April 1992
Neil Young News
A Neil Young interview from "Guitare & Claviers" Avril 1992 (Article translated from French by David Ostrosser). Discusses guitars, amplifiers and equipment.
Q : Given the fury of your concerts, you must mistreat your
guitars sometimes?
NEIL : No, I've never broken guitars by playing them. In fact,
I'm very gentle with them. I don't think I have to break a guitar
to get a violent sound.
Q : Have you got a favourite guitar...one that you use
especially for writing songs?
NEIL: Not really. Generally, I write with very cheap guitars
and not very good. For example, I have a Japonese Epiphonie that
I bought in New Zealand. The sound isn't good, but it's unique. I
like to always buy second-hand guitars, because I know I'm going
to write at least one or two songs with them. Because every
guitar comes with its own history and the feeling of all the
people who have used it before. That makes you play certain
chords that you wouldn't play normally, and pushes you towards
something new. If you're lucky, you'll get a song out of it.
Q : You're talking about an Epiphone acoustic, with the
ornamentation ?
NEIL : Yes, it's one of the cheapest. It's probably lying on
the floor in my bedroom right now. It looks like it's in good
shape but the action's really bad and the neck isn't too good.
And it's always going out of tune. But I like it. Most of the
songs on American Dream were written on it. I think I also wrote
Fuckin' Up on it, too. But I also have very nice guitars, great
for recording and composing. I have quite a few Martins, Gretschs
-- particularly White Falcons, old Explorers, Flying V s. Larry
Cragg has more than I do. You should talk to him about my guitars
and amps. My amps are something else.
(Note: For more, see interview with guitar tech
Larry Cragg
about Neil Young's guitars and equipment.)
Q : Do you use one amp in particular ?
NEIL : Well actually my amp is a sort of custom assembly. It
has may different elements and controls to it. That amp has a
gadget that nobody else has got. It's unique...totally original,
and I'm really happy with it. It's called a Whizzer, and it's on
top of my Fender Deluxe Tweed, which is the backbone of my sound.
The pots on my amp are motorized and linked to the Whizzer. I
adjust my settings on the digital controls of the Whizzer, which
sets of the motor which actually physically turns the pots, to
set the position. This setting pushes a button that, once it's
set off, turns all the dials on the amp to the desired setting.
I've got four of them, so there's no interruption in the sound.
My whole system is fairly complicated. I have an effects rack --
actually not a rack, it's a box full of effects. They're all very
old: echoplex, analog delay, Mutron octave divider, a Boss
flanger that must be from 1969. I start them all from a set of
metal switches -- NASA quality stuff...I have some remotes to
start them from a distance. I can't use the small Boss pedals.
Each time it's the same thing: ≪Oh, we're sorry≫ and the whole
thing smashes to bits...
Q : Could you have recorded Weld with equipment from the
Sixties?
NEIL : No, not without the Whizzer, because it's the only way
to have that immediate change in sound. The volume on the Deluxe
goes up to 12. If you go from 12 to 10 and a half, suddenly the
attack is different. At 12, the amp saturates completely and
gives the sound after the attack. But at 10 and a half, the
attack stays the same. So I have a button for just for that
change of volume position. On a Deluxe, there's one tone button
and two for the volume. The volume for the channel you're not
using affects the channel you are using, even if you're not
plugged into it, because of the amplification stage. Being able
to control the channel I'm not using or to adjust the highs here
and there -- that's the sort of thing I couldn't do without the
Whizzer. It's technology that doesn't affect the sound, just the
control of the sound.
Q : Where do you get your feedback? From the gain of the amp,
or a pedal?
NEIL : The volume. There is no gain on the amp. And we don't
use distortion pedals. Just the Fender Deluxe.
Q : You use that amp in concert?
NEIL : Sure! I couldn't play without it. It's irreplaceable.
I've got ten other Deluxes, but non of them sound like that one.
All the old Fenders are different, because of different metal
alloys, and also the cables used in them. The power isn't exactly
the same either. Back then, everything was lost, you know...The
construction was always different to a certain degree. I bought
mine for 50$ at Saul Bettlan's Music in Los Angeles in 1967. I
brought it home and plugged in my Gretsch. Right away, the whole
place started to vibrate. The guitar vibrated as well. ≪Jesus≫,
I shouted, and I had to turn down the volume to half to stop the
feedback. But I do use other techniques to get feedback, like for
instance using the Octave divider with the analog delay, with the
delay before the divider in the chain. For that sort of
combination, it's very important to know in what order things are
hooked up. What is it that works first, before being modified by
something else. I have six effects, and I can use them directly,
without going through the others, even if they're not on, or I
can raise the power on one and lower it on another without going
through the one next to it. Or, I can use all six at once in any
combination. I have them in a precise order so that each one
works on the other in a certain way. That's how I get my sound.
Q : Do you ever have someone at the soundboard start certain
effects for you ?
NEIL : No way, Zejo! [Translator's addition :-)] I control
everything with the footswitch, that enormous red box. I wouldn't
let anyone do it for me. He'd be dead!
Q : Do digital multi-effects interest you at all?
NEIL : I have a digital echo that I use for a special sound.
When I wanted to try it at the Guitar Center in Hollywood, the
salesman was showing all the sounds that you could hear on Phil
Collins and Cindy Lauper records. I asked to try it for a couple
of minutes ; I turned all the controls to full, except the
volume, the I started to mute the chords: ≪Whop, whop, whop≫,
like a huge popcorn machine popping. I love that sound, so I use
it for effect. But I don't use it for the sound it's supposed to
make.
end of Part #1
Go to
Part #2
of interview with Neil Young on his guitars and sound.
For more, read excerpt from the book "Shakey - A Neil Young Biography" by Jimmy McDonough with an interview with guitar tech
Larry Cragg
about Neil Young's guitars and equipment.
Also see,
Neil Young's Sound
on guitars, amps, and whizzer equipment.
Neil Young Interviews
Thrashers Wheat
- A Neil Young Archives