THE GT INTERVIEW

Legendary LA studio guitarist and solo artist, Mike Landau has been recording outstanding albums for decades. Jason Sidwell caught up with him to discuss his gear, playing style and the stunning new album, Liquid Quartet Live.

THE GEAR

GT: What did you use for the recording of Liquid Quartet Live?

ML: I used a Fender Custom Shop Strat that has two Lollar Imperial humbuckers (standard wind). The main amp was a Dumble Slidewinder, which is similar to a four-input style Bassman amp with two 6L6s. The cabinet is a Kerry Wright 4x12 open back with vintage Celestion G12-65s. The second amp (used for the wet pedal board) was a Fender Hot Rod Deville ML 212.

GT: What dictates you using single coils or humbuckers?

ML: Several years ago, when I started to tour in Europe a lot, I started using a Strat with humbuckers because I couldn’t deal with the single-coil hum at the clubs I was playing. I use a lot of gain from my overdrive pedals and at times the hum was way too overbearing. I love both humbuckers and single-coils though, it just really depends on the venue and my mood. Single-coils sound and feel more immediate to me when I play with my fingers instead of a pick. It feels like there’s nothing between my fingers and the speaker if you know what I mean; the sound coming out of the amp is instant. Because of some of the frequency cancellation that naturally occurs with a humbucking pickup, humbuckers have a ‘lazier’ feel to me, and sound more ‘cloudy’ on the top end; they have a looser feel than a single-coil, but obviously humbuckers have a round, crunchy sounding midrange. Both pickups serve their purpose very well.

GT: Do you prefer overdrive pedals to amp overdrive?