So here the latest addition to our collection.

The Hiwatt Lead 30, this custom purple head is a studio’s “secret weapon” why, because any clear sounding amp be it combo or head that is under 30 watts makes a great recording session.  Unlike the live concert you don’t need huge amps in the studio taking up real estate all you need is a, to the point tube tone!  This Hiwatt is very diverse, because it can change like a camellia depending on the guitar that you use.  You want clean tone on the Tele, you got it.  You want a natural tube break-up on a Les Paul, here it is..

The 2nd part to this amp marriage is the Real-Mccoy mid 1960’s handwired Marshall 4×12 cabinet with original Celestion G12M speakers, nicknamed the Greenbacks. This Marshall cabinet was re-customized with purple tolex and the Hiwatt name plate to match the looks of the lead 30 head.  Yes the Marshall has been outwardly altered but the guts and the tone has not changed and in the studio it’s not about the looks but about capturing the tone of the music.

Here is 26 reasons why you should record at Fastback Studios. We take pride and love to use all these mics as much as we can. Call them what you like: Vintage, Classic, Warm, We just know that these Mics bring out the best in ever recording.. This one goes out to all you guys & gals that enjoy these tools of the trade.

Neumann M149 (x2) - Blue Bottle (Neumann CMV3 Reissue) -
Neumann U47(x2) - Neumann U48 - Neumann U87 (x2) -
Neumann M249

Ribbon Mic’s: RCA 77DX (x2) - RCA 74B - Cole 4040 -
Cole 4038 (x3 with one historically came from Abbey Road Studios)

Manley Gold Reference - AKG 414 - AKG C12A (s/n# 133)
AKG C12VR (s/n#049 - hand made) - Telefunken M16 (s/n#016)
Lomo 19A19 - Gefell M300 - Neumann KM184 - Neumann 84
Neumann- KM100

We are in the middle of recording the rock band Look Closer. These guys have a great rock feel and mixing of their E.P. will starts this week. The cool thing about Look Closer music is that it is guitar driven and we are having a great time stacking the guitar tones to build that wall of sound.

This last weekend was a “bring in the special guest” and hang and record with The Bouchards.

On Blues harp we had Bill Mattocks we chained harp, accordion & banjo on separate tracks through our Fender early 1970’s Vibro Champ – Coles 4040 ribbon mic – Shep CN12 mic-pre / EQ – RCA BA6A Compressor. Bill started the session with a Shure Bullet mic and gritty blues-tone. During these sessions we had the ribbon mic about a foot and a half away from each instrument or amp.

Nova played a Petosa accordion. While Dave played a Nechville banjo. Dave gave us a great compliment by stating that he has recorded in a lot of studios and the previous guitar session he did with us was the best tone anybody ever got out of his amp onto disc. That really made my day since Dave is one of the premier guitarist in Seattle.

For Hotrod we hooked him up to the 1953 Hammond B3 with 122 Leslie cabinet. Matched pair of Josephson’s small diaphragm cardioid microphones on the top horn using the Manley SLAM as a mic-pre and compressor and Sennhiezer 421 on the bottom drum using the Micamp and a LA2A

 More guitar & amp photos from WVH upcoming release. 

Dennis & Bill of The Bouchards recording vocals on our Neumann U47 & AKG C12VR. More session photos are posted about The Bouchards in previous blogs