2024.05.03 - Coffee With Ola Englund - Interview with Slash

Excerpts from Ultimate Guitar:

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Guns N' Roses guitar legend Slash pointed out that he's generally more fond of using traditional amplifiers rather than digital alternatives, and also pointed out that he's not a fan of tweaking the knobs on amps and pedals too much.

For many years now, Slash has been one of the most famous players to use the Gibson Les Paul and Marshall amp combo. In many ways, he's almost synonymous with the "old" way of doing things. For many players, including Slash, a traditional guitar with a traditional tube-driven amp is something that you can't go wrong with.

During his recent chat with Ola Englund, Slash said that he is familiar with the digital side of things and that he sometimes uses plugins but that he still doesn't get into digital units like Fractal Audio's Axe-Fx.

"I have a little bit," Slash replied when asked whether he used the any form of digital alternatives (transcribed by Ultimate Guitar). "So, the Fractal thing, I haven't had any reason to go there. But plugins — I use all the time."

"Because, in the studio, when you're doing stuff that doesn't necessarily have to be the Marshall sound or whatever, you can get really interesting sounds from plugins and do a lot of unique things."

In particular, Slash said that there's a project where plugins are useful. He continued:

"And I write music for this thing called '[Universal's] Halloween Horror Nights' in Hollywood. And so, when I'm doing that, sometimes I use a guitar synthesizer, I use plugins — anything but just your standard stock guitar sound. So I'm familiar with that stuff."

As we all know by now, Slash has also collaborated with Magnatone, a smaller amp company popularized by ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons. His preference to go with the classic tube-driven amps comes down to having a specific response from the speakers and cabinets.

"That said, I've been using that Magnatone amp, and I just designed a new amp with those guys, the 100-watt amp," he continued. "It sounds really good."

"I love working with an amplifier because there's something… Maybe it's old school, but there's something pure about the way the speakers react, the sound of the cabinet and all that kind of stuff."

During the same interview, the Guns N' Roses axeman also said that he's not very fond of doing too much tone tweaking. Instead, he prefers to find one setting that sounds good and just roll with it. When asked whether he likes "tinkering with settings," he replied:

"I've never enjoyed that. [Laughs] I mean, I've always been able to, as quickly as possible, set up something that sounds good and then just leave it. I've never been fascinated by electronics. Some effects or interesting or whatnot. But I don't enjoy messing with knobs and all that."

https://www.ultimate-guitar.com/news/gear/slash_names_one_thing_he_never_enjoyed_doing_with_gear_explains_why_he_prefers_traditional_over_digital_amps.html

Excerpts from Blabbermouth:
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In a new interview with "Coffee With Ola", the YouTube program hosted by Ola Englund, the Swedish guitarist, record producer and owner of Solar guitars, Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash was asked what he is listening to nowadays. The 58-year-old musician, who is promoting his upcoming blues covers album "Orgy Of The Damned", responded (as transcribed by Blabbermouth):  "Oh, shit. All kinds of shit. I obviously have been listening to a lot of blues as of lately, but mostly old blues. But there's a lot of great new stuff that's out there. I mean, Derek Trucks isn't new anymore, but still really brilliant. There's a guy I always mention, 'cause he's really good, named Chris Buck who I'm friends with. He puts stuff on Instagram, and it's really awesome. There's a lot of players all around. A lot of 'em, I don't even know their names, but they're fucking mindblowing. Social media has opened up a whole new world of players out there."

He continued: "But as far as bands are concerned, mostly the stuff that I've been listening to are older bands with new records. AC/DC had a new record. That was really good. Queens Of The Stone Age's got a new record. I love Gojira; it's great. The new Metallica is fucking amazing. So there's a lot of new stuff in that vein. And then as far as new bands are concerned, I think Dirty Honey was pretty cool. I think that was a really good new rock band that sort of has that old school style that's actually pretty genuine. I'm trying to think if there's anything else that I'm forgetting that's come across my thing."

Asked if there are any metal bands in particular, other than Gojira, that he has been listening to, Slash said: "Not new ones, no." As for which old ones he still listens to, he said: "Yeah, well, Gojira's one, Metallica's one. The last Megadeth record was cool. I think that's about it for me at the moment."

https://blabbermouth.net/news/slash-loves-gojira-says-metallicas-72-seasons-album-is-amazing