Nels Cline Equipment Analysis
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Guitars Nels Cline primarily uses the 1959 Fender Jazzmaster for all of his Wilco studio recordings as well as using it extensively for live performances. He first purchased a Fender Jaguar to get closer to the “Sonic Youth” noise sound primarily be utilizing the strings behind the bridge plus some distortion and later fell in love with the tone of the Fender Jazzmaster due to the extra string length via the longer neck scale.
1959 Fender Jazzmaster t Jazzmaster soap bar pickups t Alder Body t Maple Neck (25.5”) t Rosewood Fretboard (7.5”) t 3-way pickup selector. t Vintage Frets t Slapboard Construction t Floating Tremolo bridge t Independant volume/tone toggles
“Roy” 1962 Fender Jazzmaster t t Used to belong to Roy Rogers t Painted red to match outfit t 3-way pickup selector. t Vintage Frets t Floating Tremolo bridge t White paint on neck to designate fret markings t Alder body t Independant volume/tone toggles
1966 Fender Jaguar t Alder Body t Single Coil Jaguar pickups t Maple Neck (24”) t Rosewood Freatboard (7.5”) t Vintage frets. t Alder body t 3-way pickup selector. t Independant volume/tone toggles
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Guitars The Kristen McNenemy Jaguar was purchased for $300 and did not work initially and featured a ton of “hippie” paint. It has a very loose tremolo system and is featured on the song “Hummingbird” Kristen McNenemy was put over the hippy paint because “She’s so fabulous.” The Silver 1969 Fender Jaguar was purchased off Ebay and customly modified by Nels and proved to be a great guitar after “much work”. Initially, someone had appoxied the electronics of the guitar which required much work to fix “People did weird things in the 60’s and 70’s”.
Kristen McNenemy Jazzmaster t t Alder Body t Single Coil Jaguar pickups t Maple Neck (24”) t Rosewood Fretboard (7.5”) t Vintage Frets t 3-way pickup selector. t Independant volume/tone toggles
1969 Fender Jaguar t t Repainted to silver color t Mirror pickguard t Charlie Christian pickup (neck) t Seymour Duncan custom pickup (bridge) t Vintage Frets t 3-way pickup selector.
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Guitars When playing acoustically, Nels Cline generally picks up the Yairi for which his parents paid $200 in 1974. Other alternative acoustic guitars include a Taylor 12-string he purchased in 1976, a Baby Taylor which was given to him in 1997 or a 1952 Martin 00-17 he bought four or five years ago.
Yairi DY-53 t Mahogany back t Solid Spruce top t Folk Body Style t Mahogany neck t DC Rosewood bridge t Mahogany neck (25.5”) t Rosewood fretboard t 1-11/16 nut width
Strings
Picks
GHS Boomer 12’s
Dunlop Ultex 1.14mm
Shure SM-57 Dynamic Microphones t Dynamic microphone t Used for all studio recordings t Positioned “a couple inches” from the axis t Impedance of 150 ohms t Undirectional (cardioid) t Rotationally symmetrical t 40 to 15,000 hertz frequency response
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Effects Klon Centaur
t Gain 7/10
Boss CS3 Compressor
ProCo Rat Distortion
Fulltone ‘69 Fuzz
Fulltone Deja Vibe
t Level 7/10
t Distortion 6/10
t Volume 6/10
t
t Treble 6/10
t Tone 6.5/10
t Filter 3.5/10
t Bias 10/10
t Volume 10/10
t Output 1/10
t Attack 4/10
t Contour 10/10
t Intensity 6/10
t Sustain 4.5/10
Zvex Fuzz Factory
Boss Vibrato Pedal
t Volume 6/10
t Rate 7/10
t Gate 0/10
t Depth 2/10
t Comp 0/10
t Rise 4/10
t Drive 7/10
t Volume 7/10 t Mid 5/10 t Low 7.5/10
Electro-Harmonix Pulsar
t t Depth 4/10 t Shape 4/10 t Rate 4/10
t Fuzz 10/10
Crowther Audio Hot Cake
Boss DD-2 Digital Delay
t t Level 6/10 t Presence 4/10 t Drive 6/10
t t Level 4/10 t Feedback 4/10 t Detune 5/10 t 800ms
t Stab 3/10
Ernie Ball Volume Pedal
Digitech Whammy
Cry Baby Wah
Electro-Harmonix POG
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Amplifiers Nels Cline originally played on vintage Marshall JTM-45 amplifiers, but eventually partnered with Schroeder to design an amplifier specified to his demands. Schroeder DB7-
Volume 4/10 Treble 1/10 Middle 3.5/10 Bass 3.5/10 Presence 3.5/10
Marshall JTM-45 t 2x KT66 power tubes t 4x ECC83 driver t Gz34 t Enclosed tone stack and feedback loop t Four inputs t Two Channels (High, Low) t Active tone controls
Schroeder DB7 t 2 6L6’s delivering 40 watts clean headroom t Custom wound Mercury Magnetics transformers t 1x 6SC7 t 2x 12AX7’s t 5U4 rectifier t Red tolex standard
“Nels Cline Tech Talk.” nelscline.com. 2010. www.nelscline.com/tech.html “Nels Cline - Effects De Moi!” nelscline.com. 2010. www.nelscline.com/effects.html “What They Play.” acousticguitar.com. 2010. www.acousticguitar.com/issues/ag138/gear138.html “Wilco Guitarist Nels Cline.” youtube.com 2010. www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzn0KOLrarw www.fender.com www.schroederaudioinc.com www.marshallamps.com
Paul Joseph Stewart