“It sounded like an ice pick. I thought he was gonna laugh. He looks up and goes, ‘It’s pretty awesome.’ I thought, ‘Is it?! It sounds terrible to me’”: Why Joe Walsh’s distinct taste in amps took Tom Bukovac by surprise

Session veteran Tom Bukovac says Joe Walsh went through a “conveyor belt” of guitar amps in the hunt for the perfect one as they prepared for a tour together – and he was surprised by which one he went for.

Bukovac was Walsh's foil when he hit the road to support Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, and rehearsals proved to be quite the ear-opener for him.

“We were rehearsing and while we were doing these weeks of rehearsals, getting this tour together, they kept bringing in pallets of amps for Joe to try, two at a time,” he tells fellow session great Dan Huff. “Like, hundreds of amps on a conveyor belt coming in from I don't know where.

“He'd set up two Fenders, play for a second, and then we’d play a couple of songs, and then they'd bring in two more. I don't know what he was looking for or what he was doing, but to be honest, they all sounded exactly the same to me. That's just the way his hands are.”

It's an experience Greg Suran can relate to. Speaking to Guitar World previously, he said, “Joe had a semi-truck full of amps and swapped them out every two or three shows. He'd be like, ‘Yeah, what do you think?’ And I'd be like, ‘Sounds great! It sounds just like you every time.’”

Clearly, Walsh was hearing something these other two players couldn't.

For Bukovac, however, there was a distinct moment when Walsh stumbled across an amp that he was convinced would be another for the reject pile. Walsh had other plans.

“I walk over there, and they just brought two new ones in. He played a couple of chords, and it literally sounded like a fucking ice pick,” he continues. “It was so thin and bright. I couldn't believe it.

“I thought he was going to laugh and say, ‘Oh, this is a piece of shit.’ But he looks up and goes, ‘Pretty awesome.’ And I was just like, ‘Is it?’ Maybe I’m the asshole here, but it sounds terrible to me.

“On my side of the stage, I had these old Fenders and a real sweet sound, but it still had some bite.”

But Bukovac quickly learned why Walsh’s amps sounded like they did.

“I would go out and sit out at soundchecks in the 100th row of these empty arenas. I'm listening to the guitars, and Joe Walsh's rig sounds incredible, even though it's like an ice pick on stage.

“Then my tech, who's a good guitar player, comes and plays my rig, and it sounds like [makes muffled noise]. I started thinking there is no limit to how much high-end you can have in an arena.”

Elsewhere, Chris Holt has detailed how he became the Eagles' latest guitarist and what fans can expect from their new-look line-up. He's stepped in for longtime guitarist Steuart Smith, who was forced to step down from the group in January following health struggles.