Scott Henderson Discussion

[ItAllanLover]

Hi Maestro!

Have you heard that Allan is releasing his new album via crowdfunding?

http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/allanholdsworth

What do you think about this way to produce a new cd?

Also, regarding gear, what do you think about his choices regarding all the gear that he uses or that he used in the past? Most of his pedals are not true-bypass (Magicstomps, UD-stomps) and affects heavily the tone of his guitar, which ends being compromised dinamic-wise....and his amps, what about them? It seems that sometimes he uses the exact opposite of what we know as "good sounding gear for guitar", i'm talking about the Yamaha amps that now are discontinued...

Thanks a lot for all your advices and...can't wait to hear your new masterpiece!!

[Scott Henderson]

I don’t have any problem with crowd funding, but let’s be clear about why it’s happening. Many small labels have been forced out of business by ASSHOLES who call themselves fans of their favorite musicians, yet steal their music instead of buying it. This new “music should be free” trend has hit non-mainstream musicians the hardest, and now the only options left for them are to pay for the making of their own CD, or ask their real fans to pay for it. People who work for a living and don’t understand that musicians have the same rights they do are fucking morons. If they’re not morons, then they’re criminals, end of story.

About gear choices, Allan and many other guitarists, including myself, have changed their gear many times in pursuit of a better tone. To be honest, my favorite Allan tone was back in the days when he was playing an SG into a Marshall, but I’m sure he’d disagree. I think part of the reason he uses transistor amps is because they don’t care how loud they are - they’re more consistent than tube amps. I’ve played in clubs where I needed to play much softer than usual - the tubes don’t get pushed hard enough, and the tone is thinner.

Another factor is home recording. If you live in apartment, you have to compromise by using amp and speaker simulations, attenuators, etc. In my opinion none of it sounds as good as a great tube amp and speaker cabinet cranked up loud, but if you have neighbors close enough to hear it, there’s gonna be trouble.

Also, musicians have to compromise their tone in order to travel cheaper. My SE-70 isn’t exactly a state of the art multi-FX, but it gets the job done and it’s small enough to fit in my pedalboard suitcase. I’d prefer a 10 space rack with all the best Lexicon reverbs, Eventide pitch shifters, etc, but I can’t afford to lug that around.

[stephane]