“A Tube Screamer is a Tube Screamer. It’s one of the great cons of the guitar industry. They got these dirt boxes right the first time!” Why Jared James Nichols stopped obsessing over gear – and honed in on his playing instead
Freedom, says Nichols, is the knowledge you can pick up anyone's guitar and sound like you, and now the Nashville-based Les Paul wrangler is finding that freedom in songwriting
We live in a world where almost every guitar player will tell you how they are ‘old-school’ in some way, shape or form. But very few live up to that term as sincerely as Wisconsin-born, Nashville-based blues dynamo Jared James Nichols.
By his own admission, he’s a man of simple pleasures – give him a guitar with only one pickup, an overdrive pedal and an amp that responds in a similar way to his signature Blackstar JJN 50, and he’s ready to hit the road for months on end.
Now in his mid-30s – and a decade into his career as a recording artist – Jared has become a true successor to those legendary sonic minimalists who electrified the world by wrangling magic out of the guitar. And he’s more than aware that it’s uncommon for players of his generation to be quite so vintage-minded and spirited…
“Just the other day, I met a kid who wanted to get a picture and talk about gear,” Jared tells Guitarist, not long before embarking on an extensive European and UK tour to promote new single, Ghost.
“After a few minutes, he admitted he’d never actually played through a real amp. That made me feel old, man, even if I’m still pretty young for the blues scene. I’ve always been old-school, but I’m heading more and more that way these days.”
Your signature models all have a single P-90 pickup in the bridge position. How does that affect what you play?
You almost have to think of your guitar as a singular tool. It’s like being handed a hammer and then being asked to build a whole house. You need to get crafty with it.
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Funnily enough, people that have never played a Les Paul Junior usually think it’ll only make one sound. But then they’ll notice that they can control way more than they thought by attacking harder or softer, changing where they pick or backing down the volume.
So having less to work with inspires you to get even more creative?
It’s like living out of a duffle bag. You make the most out of what you have and ultimately that helps you realise what’s important. All the dynamics and variations are important for blues, jazz, country, rock and even metal.
I could pick up anyone’s guitar and still know how to sound like me. Needing less gear sets me free
Simplicity helped me find my voice. I’m not reliant on anything. I could pick up anyone’s guitar and still know how to sound like me. Needing less gear sets me free. I’m not chained down. It’s all a means to an end.
Have you always been like that?
When I first started touring, I’d build pedalboards with a wah, tuner, fuzz and various drives on there. Things would go wrong, probably down to my own stupidity. So that pedalboard got smaller and smaller.
By the end of the tour, it would be just a Tube Screamer into the amp because I knew I could play a whole set without any problems. I didn’t need all the extra crap. Just give me a single-P-90 guitar and a Tube Screamer and I’m ready to play the Royal Albert Hall. It’s like sink or swim.
I’ve started backing off the dirt because you get extra clarity with more volume and less drive. Some players don’t realise that – they stack a bunch of pedals, which is cool and I’ve done that myself, occasionally. But sometimes a good guitar and amp pushed to the limits will get you the fattest tones.
Speaking of amps, you’ve been very loyal to Blackstar over the years.
It’s crazy how good that stuff is. I sometimes get the impression people scoff at me, like, ‘Oh Jared, you still using those Blackstars?’ And the answer is ‘yes’ because I love the company and they’ve been so supportive, but more importantly there’s never been a point where I’ve wanted to play anything else.
At home, sure, I have a 1968 Plexi and Leslie West’s old Sunn amp, which Joe Bonamassa gave me, but there’s never been a time where I was playing through my Blackstars and wished it was a Deluxe.
Joe’s a big fan of the Silver Jubilee. Have you ever tried one?
Richie Faulkner from Judas Priest lives close to me and he’s got loads of Marshalls. I haven’t tried many, so I asked if I could come over. One of them was the Jubilee, which is an amp I’d never played before.
When I was younger, I’d watch videos of Stevie Ray Vaughan and Hendrix, any of the old blues guys, and I could see they had basic setups. I quickly realised the difference was in how they were playing
I never understood why they were so highly rated, especially when you have people like Bonamassa swearing by them. And after plugging in, I instantly got it. That amp is super-good and actually a bit different to the other amps Marshall is known for.
Even the guitars you play – from the 1952 Goldtop you named ‘Dorothy’ and the refinished 1953 Goldtop you named ‘Ole Red’, to your three Epiphone signature guitars – are very classic designs. There’s no special circuitry or push/pulls…
When I was younger, I’d watch videos of Stevie Ray Vaughan and Hendrix, any of the old blues guys, and I could see they had basic setups. I quickly realised the difference was in how they were playing. I was inspired to learn all those little nuances through touch.
I dipped my toes into pedal land, but I never went far because I’d feel like the pedal was controlling me, rather than the other way round. To this day, I cannot use a delay pedal. I just can’t set them right. I don’t like it when the emphasis shifts from the notes I play to the gear I’m using.
There’s been a lot of rumblings about a new signature to follow on from your 2023 Epiphone ‘Blues Power’ Les Paul Custom in Aged Pelham Blue.
If Epiphones were like that when I was 15, my God, I would’ve been a happy kid. But in the early 2000s, you didn’t know what you were getting
Yeah, there are a lot of rumblings right now. The main one is a new version of my first signature, a single-pickup Les Paul Custom in black, a replica of the 2008 ‘Old Glory’ Custom I modded myself.
Apparently, people keep asking for it. So I had a meeting with Gibson and they suggested putting it back out, maybe starting with a run of Custom Shop models because that’s something that’s never been done. There’s also the 75th anniversary of the Les Paul, which isn’t far off.
I have ‘Dorothy’, which is one of the first Les Pauls ever made. One thing I’m noticing about Gibson/Epiphone right now is that they’re fearless. I was trying one of the [Epiphone] Inspired By [Gibson Custom] models the other day, and I could not believe how good it sounded.
If Epiphones were like that when I was 15, my God, I would’ve been a happy kid. But in the early 2000s, you didn’t know what you were getting.
You also tend to be relatively minimalist in terms of note choices – but then again, a lot of players would struggle to get the same amount of mileage as you from the pentatonic scale!
I want all the emotional shit to come out. The pentatonic scale is the simplest language for that
I wanted to learn how to sing through my guitar. What helped was listening to people like Gary Moore and Albert King, and trying to soak up their simplicity. When I think about my favourite solos, sure, shredding is cool, but it’s more about that personal thing where you’re crying through that guitar.
I want all the emotional shit to come out. The pentatonic scale is the simplest language for that. I might bring in other notes occasionally, but it’s better to be patient and tactile. I see great players every day online who make me think, ‘This person just played more notes than I have all week!’
I was playing Come Together with Paul Gilbert recently and he did this insane solo. The solo I chose to play was literally the vocal melody, but I did it in a way that sounded disgusting and made me people pay attention. Paul looked at me as if to say, ‘You fucker!’ Sometimes in music, it all comes down to that human touch.
You don’t lean too heavily on pedals, but your Klon and Tube Screamer usually travel wherever you go.
I’ve had that 1982 Tube Screamer since I was 15. The great thing about those pedals is they’re all cool. You can pick up a TS9 from GuitarGuitar and it does the job. Even Bonamassa will tell you that. A Tube Screamer is a Tube Screamer. It’s one of the great cons of the guitar industry. Basically, they got all these dirt boxes right the first time around.
The Klon is its own beast – there’s something slightly different in the sauce. Something nobody talks about is the floor noise. If you have the drive past halfway with your volume down, you get all this unwanted noise. I ended up taking the Klon off.
Sure, I could throw a noise gate on there, but I shouldn’t need to. And taking Klons on the road isn’t fun. I always have to pull it off the ’board after soundcheck and bring it with me because a Klon sitting in a club is an easy nick. But nobody is going to steal your Tube Screamer, you know?
You just released a new single, Ghost, co-written with Tyler Bryant. Tell us about that.
The plan is to keep pumping out singles until the album comes in May. Before my last record, the self-titled one from 2023, I noticed people would say, ‘Man, you sound incredible live, but I don’t like the sound of your records – it just doesn’t translate!’
It was like a backhanded compliment that made me go, ‘Thank you… I guess!’ So I was hell-bent on making an album that was just three dudes in a room cut to tape at Blackbird Studio in Nashville, which is what we did on that self-titled one.
I love how it came out, but one thing about that record – and it was my own fault – was that I was trying to find a hole in the sky in terms of all the shit I loved. I was trying to capture lightning in the bottle.
So how exactly does this next album differ?
This time I’ve dipped into the community of songwriters here in Nashville because the level and list of talent is insane. I know some mega-successful songwriters that have written tons of hits. Tyler Bryant is a good friend [and] every time we hang out, we can structure a song within minutes.
In Nashville, it feels like everyone is collaborating all the time. For this record, I wanted to emphasise the songwriting. I’ve been playing tracks to Zakk Wylde and Bonamassa, friends who have a good idea of what to expect, and they’ve all told me, ‘Damn, I really like this song.’ It’s almost like ‘Wait? A guitar player actually putting out a good song?!’ That’s where my head was at.
What other insights have you collected over the last decade of touring?
Dynamics are so important. When I started playing, I thought I could take my guitar and beat people up for 90 minutes. By the end, everyone would be exhausted. But if you curate a setlist that ebbs and flows, you can make your show feel like a great movie. There’s drama, anger, happiness – you name it.
Leslie West was one of my biggest heroes. We were forming a relationship right as he passed and I even got to jam with him
One of the worst feelings on stage is when there’s no connection. People start walking out to get a beer, which leaves you thinking, ‘Shit, that’s not the point!’ You want everyone in the palm of your hand. Even if people don’t know the song, you have to keep them entertained to the point where they want to know the song.
Finally, if you could have a lesson with anyone, living or dead, who would you choose?
Leslie West was one of my biggest heroes. We were forming a relationship right as he passed and I even got to jam with him. I still find those records he made all those years ago so inspiring. They leave me wondering how he played those licks or dialled in those tones. He’s someone who was jamming with Hendrix back in the day.
Jeff Beck is also on top of that list. Not long ago, I got to sit down with Tommy Emmanuel. He was two feet away, playing guitar and hanging out. It was like a religious experience – I’m not religious, but he put me in a trance. That’s the power of music. I can only imagine what it was like when Hendrix was playing. It must have felt like something from another world.
- Jared James Nichols' self-titled album is out now via Round Hill Records.
- This article first appeared in Guitarist. Subscribe and save.
Amit has been writing for titles like Total Guitar, MusicRadar and Guitar World for over a decade and counts Richie Kotzen, Guthrie Govan and Jeff Beck among his primary influences as a guitar player. He's worked for magazines like Kerrang!, Metal Hammer, Classic Rock, Prog, Record Collector, Planet Rock, Rhythm and Bass Player, as well as newspapers like Metro and The Independent, interviewing everyone from Ozzy Osbourne and Lemmy to Slash and Jimmy Page, and once even traded solos with a member of Slayer on a track released internationally. As a session guitarist, he's played alongside members of Judas Priest and Uriah Heep in London ensemble Metalworks, as well as handled lead guitars for legends like Glen Matlock (Sex Pistols, The Faces) and Stu Hamm (Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, G3).
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