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Friday September 14th, 2001
Goldtone amps are pure gold for star producer Marti Frederiksen
by Paul Van Name for Gibson Goldtone
As a record producer for Aerosmith, Johnny Lang and Mick Jagger, one would assume that Marti Frederiksen is blessed with a good set of ears. Fact is, his ears are golden, and so is his taste in amplifiers. Armed with a typical arsenal of blackface combos, plexi heads and monstrous cabinets, he set out to record Aerosmith's Just Push Play album last summer.
That's when the man in the brown truck dropped off the unassuming box marked Gibson Goldtone Amplification. That box sat in the studio hallway for two days before anyone even thought to open it. The rest, as the saying goes, is history.
We tried other amps but just kept coming back to the Goldtone GA-30RVS.
It's what worked best for the record."Said Frederiksen from his California home, "Every lead break that Joe Perry played is through a Goldtone (Goldtone GA-30RVS 2x12 combo). We tried other amps but just kept coming back to the Goldtone GA-30RVS. It's what worked best for the record."
Apparently once unboxed and plugged in, the Goldtone's combination of Class A power, vintage 30 watt Celestion speakers and simple controls instantly made it a studio favorite. Joe Perry now has chosen to play Goldtone Amps exclusively on the current Aerosmith World Tour as well, proving that these amps rock just as hard on stage. Mr. Perry's impressive wall of Goldtone, consisting of no less than thirteen separate amplifiers, will be ramming that fact home nightly as Aerosmith make their way around the globe on their current outing.
Joe Perry's guitar tech, Jim Survis put it best, stating that "with Goldtone amps, a Strat sounds like a Strat, a Les Paul like a Les Paul and a Rickenbacker, well, you get the idea". Yes, we do. It's rare in this day of hyper-effects that what you put in is exactly what you get back out. Goldtone amps are a wondrous exception to the sonic wash which pods and stomp boxes can levy on the color of your sound. Simply put, and in keeping with Gibson tradition, theyre pure.
"It's my first choice", says Frederiksen, "and I keep coming back to it because it voices truer than any other amp I've used. Marti Frederiksen has since gone on to produce Johnny Lang's and Mick Jagger's upcoming solo projects, and he took his own GA30RVS along with him. "It's my first choice", says Frederiksen, "and I keep coming back to it because it voices truer than any other amp I've used. On the new Jagger album, Mick plays a lot of guitar, and on the opening track, "Everybody Gets High", he takes front and center armed with a Goldtone amplifier and some vintage single coils.
He's actually a great rhythm guitarist! We then brought in a guy from LA to do overdubs and solos and with him came his old AC-30 and Vibrolux Reverbs." By the end of the session, Goldtone amps wound up being employed instead, much to everyones surprise and ultimate delight.
"We lined up the Goldtone along with all the vintage amps and my engineer toggled between them in a blind test. I was sitting in a remote part of the studio and had no idea which amp patches he was calling up". The Goldtone won out and the hired gun gladly wound up using this amp in sessions. Now he may be seeking one to call his own. As Frederiksen blithely put it, "the word on Goldtone is spreading, man".
"It has both a great clean sound and a great overdrive sound." Then came the Johnny Lang sessions. "Johnny and I experimented with some unique mike placements for his overdubs. I positioned top-flight microphones in different ways to record the amps and wound up getting a great combination of room tones. We then combined that mix with direct sound (and in the end) were both very satisfied." Frederiksen again favored the Goldtone because, "it has both a great clean sound and a great overdrive sound." When asked what type of overdrive pedals he used, the hot producer insisted that "we didn't use any overdrive pedals or rack effects at all. It was strictly plug in and play...I'm talking straight in! That's the thing...Goldtone combos have lots of big sounds all in one little box. For remote recording jobs its also easy to throw one in the back of car and off you go. You just cant do that with a half stack.
The Lang and Jagger albums have been in the can for months, slated for fourth-quarter release. But in the meanwhile Frederiksen's not letting any grass grow under his feet. He's presently working on new projects with Pink, Def Leppard, Our Lady Peace and Bon Jovi. When asked about his amp preference for these current projects, he frankly stated Lookthe amp has got to fit what works for the application. That's why I've always got to keep an open mind and use the right gear." Does that mean he's switching to something other than Goldtone? After a well placed beat, Frederiksen reiterated his commitment to use the right tool for the right job, but then confessed that, "My Champs and Deluxes have been locked away in a basement closet for a while now, and there they continue to sit. Basically, they've been on ice for over a year". We at Gibson would like to believe that he has purposely forgotten the combination to that lock. Were also confident that global warming is nothing but a myth.
Although Marti Frederiksen has a lot of credits under his belt, don't take his word for it. Go try out a Goldtone amplifier for yourself at your authorized Gibson dealer.
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