Yes, it's the pay-it-forward interview meme-scheme, which started with Leonard Pierce and then moved to Hayden's blog, where he paid it forward to me:

1. What combination of guitar/pedals/amp provides your perfect tone? Please mention pickup configuration, whether the pedals are true bypass, and how you set up the amp.

Man, this is a more difficult question than I thought at first. Why? Well, what is "perfect tone?" What is my "perfect tone?" Do I even have a "perfect tone?" Do I want one?

I've run my guitars through all sorts of effects; distortions, delays, filters, flangers, echos, reverbs and some stuff that I'm not even sure what they are exactly, but they sounded cool at the time. Having a DAW (running Logic Pro) with lots of plug-ins further complicates the matter, or signal chain, such as it is.

For instance, on this track, "No Promises", my Jazzmaster is run through an amp sim (set to a Vox-y distorto setting), several chained virtual delays, a ring modulator and a reverb. It works for that song, but it's not what I would call a perfect or even necessarily "signature" tone. Don't get me wrong; I like it a lot.

But, it's quite far from the electric guitar tones on my song Goodnight", which is my Jazzmaster (again), but this time it's being run through (via Logic plug-ins) a compressor, a Fender Champ amp sim a stereo delay and a reverb. It's a whole other beast- the main character of this tone comes from me using my fingers instead of a plectrum for the lead lines and then using a pick to play the strings behind the bridge and above the nut to get the chiming and ringing tones. It's a real wires and wood sort of sound, but the compressor and the delays play a big part of what at first seems to be a pretty basic sound.

Maybe even more basic is the guitar on "Stupid Rain": a Danelectro with 40-year-old lipstick pickups, driving a Fender Deluxe Reverb with a bit of plug-in reverb added to the rhythm guitar and a Z. Vex Fuzz Factory added to the mix for the lead guitar lines. That's a pretty meat-and-potatoes sort of tone, even with the freaky, sputtering, snarling Fuzz Factory (turn the "Stab" knob to around 3 o'clock and stand back!) doing its thing.

But are any of those favorites my idea of the "perfect guitar tone?"

You know, not really. I like 'em, but they're not quite my Platonic, default idea of what an electric guitar should sound like. That sound, which is ridiculously specfic, comes from a long relationship with a single guitar and a single amp, one that's endured for over twenty years and through all sorts of experiments and trades and fads. My perfect tone? Easy, now that I think about it.

It's the sound of my 1983 Fender '62 re-issue Stratocaster, plugged directly into my 1983 Fender Deluxe Reverb II amp. It'll be set to the first channel, the "clean," typically Fender-voiced channel and the volume will be around 4 or 5 on the amp, with the bass and treble at 6 and 5 respectively. The presence knob will not be pulled out but it will be set at 4 and the reverb will be anywhere between 4, for most playing, or 8, for more surf-y sounds. I'll ride the guitar's volume knob with my pinky, keeping it around 8 for most stuff and bring it up to 10 for solos and I'll have the bridge and middle pickups selected for that classic Stratocaster "quack" that Richard Thompson and Mark Knopfler made famous. Sometimes, for leads, I'l flip to the neck pickup, which is a 20-year-old Seymore Duncan Vintage Strat pickup, and which does an excellent imitation of Tom Verlaine's Jaguar and Jazzmaster. That's my perfect tone. My pal, Skippy The Wonder Beast, plugged into an amp I've had since college. When I think "electric guitar" I think of my two old friends.

2. Guitar-heavy skronk-rock or lush orchestral-pop (like Jens Lekman or Sufjan Stevens)?

I've been on a Jens Lekman spree and have really been digging it and I think I might actually be too old and genteel for skronk-rock anymore. It seems like I don't seek that sort of adrenal rush that comes with the stankin' loud skronk and look for more subtle pleasures. I've gone from The Wooster Group to Chekov. From Jackson Pollack to Matisse. Oh my.

3. What would you improve in OS X? In Mac operations in general?

I'd make it more processor-efficient and speedier. I see the beachball of waiting too much.

I'm not sure that I have any complaints about Mac operations in general, but I wouldn't mind seeing other companies support the platform more comprehensively.

Oh, and Roger Linn Design needs to bring out an Adrenalinn II patch editor for OSX!!!

4. Why haven't you been updating your blog as much as usual over the last month or so?

Oh, a combination of disinterest, disengagement from the world, a lack of any thoughts worth sharing and having Michael Berch here in Nebraska for the last 2/3rds of February.

5. If you were a comic book villain, who would you be?

Galactus! Because I HUNGER!!!!! (Also, purple looks good on me.)

Carrying on the pay-it forward, leave me a comment and I'll put up 5 questions for you to answer on your blog or website.

UPDATE: the guitar-geek conversation with Hayden continues in the comments here and at Hayden's blog.

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