ToneQuest Report: September 2022 – Vol. 23, No. 11

What's Inside This Issue:

Greg Martin – a 100-Watt Stack Of Sincerity – Time with Greg Martin has always left us thankful for life and guitars. He is as fine a player as they come, and we get the biggest kick out of seeing Greg and the Kentucky Headhunters unleash heaps of 4x12s and supreme firepower with a sincere stack of vintage Marshalls and a 1958 Les Paul. As a touring musician since 1981, Greg’s shares how he navigated the Covid days by focusing on his blues radio show, The Lowdown Hoedown and recording a new album, That’s A Fact Jack! The Kentucky Headhunters are busy playing shows with The Marshall Tucker Band, The Outlaws, The Steele Woods, Blackberry Smoke, Hank Williams Jr., Ozark Mountain Daredevils and Steve Earle. Greg takes us through his touring setup, and his favorite guitars, Gibson Les Paul CC#28, Greg Martin Gibson Custom Shop CC#15 Les Paul and ’53 Fender Telecaster relic.

Analog Pedals – Jeff Bolin – Meet Jeff Bolin smitten and bitten by the tone bug who is chasing the muse and cranking out unique and stellar handmade small batch pedals. Analog Pedals is in the countryside boonies of Kentucky and has a client list including Chris Robertson of Black Stone Cherry and Greg Martin, Kentucky Headhunters, along with many others. A lot of Jeff’s pedals are 2-in-1 pedals. The Dos Fuzz pedal for Chris Robertson is a fuzz face clone with Jeff’s version of the Ampeg Scrambler on one side that was used on Black Stone Cherry’s hit song “Again.” Jeff stays busy doing signature pedals and is working on the prototype build of his Dos Fuzz v2, a silicone fuzz.

Cedar Flat Lightning And Dos Fuzz v2 Review – We are no strangers to vintage tube Echoplexes. Jeff Bolin, Analog Pedals and Greg Martin, Kentucky Headhunters are taking their shot and creating the infamous Echoplex preamp boost, and this pedal is a sweetheart. It’s a tone booster that can be powered with a 9VDC or a battery. The Cedar Flat Lightning is not a pedal that will melt down your amp but makes the grade and it sends Greg Martin in the upper reaches of the tonal ether. Get twice the bang for the buck. Chris Robertson worked with Jeff on The Dos Fuzz v2. The Fuzz side has a tightly packed slab of Hendrix. The Scrambler side is an Octavia and takes the cake with its funky vintage ‘60s vibe…you can hear it on the almost 2 million plays of the clip of the Black Stone Cherry hit song, “Again.” Chris gets right down to business from the first note with the pedal.

Larry Progreba Gets Wild – We have had some rowdy adventures with Larry Progreba whether on backcountry Montana or with guitars in the south—never a dull moment. Larry tells us about two new guitars he built, an electric of all salvaged Belize wood with one of Jason Lollar’s Chicago Steels bridge pickups and a fan fret resonator, built for Larry Bell with a Mokume tail piece, a hubcab from a 1954 Packard automobile and well-made Teisco pickups.

Rocky Mountain Slides – Doc Sigmier – We couldn’t resist asking Greg Martin about his signature slide with Dog Sigmier, Rocky Mountain Slides. The backstory is amusing, and Greg proclaims his signature slide the Swamp Frog is the best glass slide—perfect and “I love the tone.” We reviewed all the slides Doc sent with our favorite Les Paul Jr. and the 1959 Gibson J-45. It’s a rough life as we share some of our favorites, the Shavano Standard, The Element Series Malachite, The Organics Series Moonstone, The Tomichi Middy, and the Swamp Frog…

Stocktone Pickups – Sherman Stockton – What a treat to talk to Sherman Stockton a humble, caring, astute, and exceptionally talented pickup maker and owner of Stocktone Pickups in New Castle, Indiana. Listen close to hear about his ride from wild biker rally gigs to crazy truck driver recording sessions and eventually building his own stellar buckers with rock stars. Sherman will also custom make them for you, should you be so moved to give him a call. An Allman Brothers freak, Sherman started making Duane “magic” pickups after having acquired all the details and measurements from Duane’s 1957 Goldtop. He also worked with Greg Martin to build the Stocktone HTP Hank the Plank replicas of Greg’s 1958 guitar sound.