“I think it sounds very close to vintage amps. If I hadn’t told you that, you probably wouldn’t have guessed, right?”: Foo Fighters' Chris Shiflett explains why he opted for a digital modeler over tube amps on his latest EP
Shiflett might be a tube amp traditionalist, but he didn't use a single amp during his recent trip to the studio
(Image credit: Harry Durrant/Getty Images)
Chris Shiflett is best known as Foo Fighters' lead guitarist, but he's also a solo artist in his own right. His latest EP, Starry Nights & Campfire Lights, notably features a country version of Thin Lizzy's Cowboy Song and an Americana rendition of Don't You Ever Leave Me by Hanoi Rocks.
However, despite the old-school feel, Shiflett actually did away with tube amps and recorded the whole EP using a Neural DSP Quad Cortex.
“I used a Quad Cortex for all the electric guitars. We recorded everything pretty quick. Truth be told, I didn’t have a lot of time and didn’t want to grab all my old amps and set them up,” he reveals in the latest edition of Total Guitar.
“So I just brought the Quad Cortex, baby. It really did the job… I think it sounds very close to vintage amps. If I hadn’t told you that, you probably wouldn’t have guessed, right?
“I know some guitar players purposefully use things like Fractals on their records because then they have the exact same tones for the live shows. That’s what I was thinking. I’ll record with this thing and then I’ve got those sounds on my little device wherever I go on tour.”
This doesn't mean that Shiflett is a total amp modeler convert, however. “Just for the record, I do want to state clearly that I prefer a real amp,” he says. “But at my advanced age, I’m a lazy motherf*cker and it’s okay to throw a Quad Cortex in.”
In a 2023 Guitarist interview, Shiflett spoke at length about the reasons behind his amp-less live rig, which he's rolled out for a few smaller shows.
Get The Pick Newsletter
All the latest guitar news, interviews, lessons, reviews, deals and more, direct to your inbox!
“It feels like total blasphemy. But doing my solo shows, I play a lot of shitty bars with shitty PAs, and oftentimes I’m not travelling with my own sound man and it’s a real roll of the dice – sometimes it’s great and sometimes it’s fucking terrible.”
He continued, “I just found that dragging around my old combo amps – because I normally play through a Deluxe Reverb or old Princeton – they’re so susceptible to dirty power and things coloring your tone.”
"Cowboy Song" (Thin Lizzy cover) - Chris Shiflett, Live @ QMU, Glasgow, 23/03/2024 - YouTube
Another contributing factor was sound engineer inconsistencies, which led him to consider an amp modeler-powered setup.
“I’d bought one of those [Strymon] Iridiums to fuck around with in my studio and just loved the way it sounded. Live, it just cuts out the middle man.”
For more Chris Shiflett, plus a rundown of the greatest guitar cover versions of all time, pick up issue 386 of Total Guitar at Magazines Direct.
Janelle is a staff writer at GuitarWorld.com. After a long stint in classical music, Janelle discovered the joys of playing guitar in dingy venues at the age of 13 and has never looked back. Janelle has written extensively about the intersection of music and technology, and how this is shaping the future of the music industry. She also had the pleasure of interviewing Dream Wife, K.Flay, Yīn Yīn, and Black Honey, among others. When she's not writing, you'll find her creating layers of delicious audio lasagna with her art-rock/psych-punk band ĠENN.
