Sat, 30 July 2005
Guitar setup for The Woods

"Sleater-Kinney turns it up to 11 on The Woods" in August 2005 online edition of Guitar Player discussion their guitar setup. Here is the gist of it:

TUCKER: Oh, yeah! I use a DOD EQ pedal to inject a lot of bass into my sound. I also use a ’90s Vox overdrive and an Electro-Harmonix Bass Synthesizer, as well as a DigiTech Whammy and a Schumann Electronics Lion X for fuzz bass parts.

What guitars are you using now?
TUCKER: I usually play through the neck pickup on my Les Paul Special. I also use a Danelectro baritone in the studio. I got my Les Paul for free, because my husband turned instruments into skateboards for an Aerosmith film he was working on. Gibson sent instruments en masse. Some of them were broken, some were just fine, and what became my guitar happened to be really nice.

Now I’m going to have to ruin your indie cred by exposing your Aerosmith connection!
TUCKER: Yeah, I totally snagged my guitar from Aerosmith [laughs].

Carrie, what’s your setup?
BROWNSTEIN: I was using a Vox AC30 up until we recorded the new record, when I switched to a ’64 blackface Fender Super Reverb because I wanted more versatility. The Vox is overpowering. It’s very loud on stage, and although it has a grittiness that I love, the midrange is really pronounced. I feel like the Fender fills out the highs and lows a little better, and it’s a much warmer amp than the Vox.
My main guitar is a 1972 Gibson SG, and I also have a ’78 Guild with a Bigsby. The Guild is kind of brittle and “garage-y,” and the SG has a real warm sound. As far as pedals go, I have a Maestro fuzz, a Boss BD-2 Blues Driver, a Z.Vex Super Hard On, and a Roland AD-50 DoubleBeat—which produces some of the most blown-out fuzz distortion I’ve ever heard.