NYS Music 20​18

Author: Jared Lindquist

  • Behind the Gear: Karina Rykman

    Karina Rykman is the bassist of Marco Benevento’s solo band. Karina brings her beefy bass tones and funky grooves to Marco’s upbeat music. Her enthusiastic presence onstage is sure to infect any crowd with enough energy to dance for hours. Check out Karina’s playing at this Brooklyn Bowl show from February 2017, footage courtesy of LazyLightning55a.

    Bass

    1978 Fender Precision Bass (w/ a single coil in the bridge position)

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    Amp/Cabinet

    MarkBass Big Bang into a Fender 1×15 cabinet

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    Pedalboard

    Signal Chain- Korg Pitch Black Tuner > 3Leaf Octabvre > MXR Phase 90 > Akai Deep Impact > ProCo RAT > Eventide H9 > JAM Pedals Delay Llama +

    Behind the Gear: What drew you to using a P Bass as opposed to a J Bass or something with active pick ups? Do you plan on changing your axe anytime soon?

    Karina: I love my P Bass – it’s a 1978, and I picked it out with Dave Dreiwitz so it feels like it has extra good vibes in it! It does have a J pickup in it, so if I want that brighter sound – which I must admit, I never really do – I always have that option. It’s the most reliable bass I’ve ever owned, and it’s incredibly versatile. I used to play a Rickenbacker which was GREAT for straight rock, but didn’t have enough low end for when I wanted to drop the proverbial bomb, or get it real funky. It also has a hipshot, so switching from drop D back to standard is super easy. I have a guy talking to me about building a custom bass…and honestly I’m going to completely model it after this one. I’d just try to make it slightly shorter scale, and lighter. The P Bass is heavy as all hell and basically breaks my back nightly. Wouldn’t have it any other way, though!

    karina rykmanBTG: How do you feel having the many options of pedals like your Eventide H9 and Akai Deep Impact has allowed you to expand sonically live? What are some of your favorite sounds from those pedals?

    KR: The kind folks at Eventide gave me that H9, and I’ve been having way too much fun with it. My favorite preset is called “Mosquitos”…shit gets real weird real quick. That pedal is like a goddamn computer – it does EVERYTHING, and then there’s an app for it, where you can fine tune every preset. It’s a little much, but it’s so ridiculously fun to scroll through. The Deep Impact is the finest synth pedal of all time. So many others just sound out of place when you try to integrate them into a band setting, but the Deep Impact somehow seemingly just blends right in there. I love setting #6. I once did a gig where I basically played on 6 for like 20 minutes – felt great. To me at least!

    BTG: I’ve read in other interviews that your ProCo RAT is a pedal you couldn’t live without; could you speak about why you love the RAT so much?

    KR: The RAT pedal is my choice distortion for when I take my fuzz solos in Marco’s band. It’s not traditionally used with a bass, but I just love the dirty growl of it. It definitely cuts a bit of the low end, which makes me turn it up louder than I probably should. But I love it! I love imperfect shit like that. It’s super brown. I carry around a spare RAT with me everywhere, just in case one malfunctions. In the Marco set, it’s truly the one pedal I couldn’t do without. The rest are all gravy.

    BTG: What are some of your favorite pedal combinations to play with live?

    KR: I love the RAT with the Delay Llama by ToneConcepts and the Phase 90 turned up all the way. That’s tried and true combo for me. If I need a little more low end juice, the Octabvre and the Deep Impact come out together, often with the RAT as well. That’s when things go from recreational to medical, if you know what I’m saying.

  • Behind the Gear: Joe Davis 12/30/17

    Behind the Gear, a new website from Jared Lindquist, covers the fine details of the gear that helps to create a musician’s sound. Each week, NYS Music will bring you Jared’s latest in depth coverage of various musician’s gear.

    Joe Davis is the guitarist of Albany-based band Formula 5. Joe is one of the most precise players on the scene, shredding with a tone so wonderful that you can’t help but smile. He brings the heat every time he takes a solo, and can settle into any groove the band throws at him. Check out his playing on Formula 5’s recent live release from November 24th.

    Guitar

    2012 Gibson SG ’61 Reissue

    Joe’s SG has some serious meaning to him, saying, “It was gifted to me by my Father and has accrued some serious road rashes, including having its headstock snapped off after a show in Canadaigua, NY. It was repaired by Dan Neafsey who built Mihali’s (Twiddle) guitars and speaker cabinets amongst other things in his rig and Zdenek’s (Twiddle).”

    Amp/Cabinet

    Amp: Traynor YBA-1 Bass Master (ca. ’72-75)
    Cab: Fuchs 2×12 w/ Jensen Jets (Debadged)

    Joe runs a pretty impressive head and cab, saying, “My amp setup hasn’t changed much over the last few years. I use a Traynor YBA-1 Bass Master head, which based on the serial number I can date to roughly 1972-75. It’s an old amp and it’s using the original tubes that were in it when it was gifted to James (bassist of Formula 5) from a friend’s dad. Not sure on the model but they are old and sound GOOOD! The head actually needed to have the original ungrounded power cable removed and replaced with a grounded one after it got wrapped around a tube during a show at Mojo’s in Jamestown, NY. Ryan Nogle, gear wizard and former drummer of AQ fixed it for us and we had a good time trying to get the head out of the enclosure chasis. Let’s just say the things a tank and they don’t make em like they use to. My Cabinet ironically is also owned by James Woods and was formerly owned by Andrew Chamberlaine the original guitarist of Mister F and Timbre Coup. Andrew hooked it up with the road case too. That cabinet is a huge part of my tone, loaded up with two Jensen Jet speakers rated for 100 watts each. The thing can SCREAM whilst being buttery smooth.”

    Pedalboard

    Quick note from Joe, “Missing from my chain currently is my Fulltone Deja Vibe, which is on the mend, and my Electro Harmonix Switchblade + A/B Switch that switched between just my amp and the Motion Sound Pro 3 Rotary Speaker.”

    Signal Chain

    Dunlop 535Q Wah > Digitech Whammy II > Ibanez CP-835 Compressor II > Ibanez TS-9 (no mod) > J Rocket Audio Archer Ikon > Xotic Effects EP Booster > Pigtronix Echolution 2 Deluxe (with Preset Controllor) > Mad Professor Silver Spring Reverb
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    He says that a huge part of his tone is the vintage gear he uses, especially his Ibanez CP-835, “The Ibanez Compressor I received as a gift from my sister, Shannon, for Christmas the year I joined Formula 5. Being a huge Trey fan my entire life, I was searching for a set and forget, always on, comp that would smooth out my clean tone and give a lil more transparency to my fully saturated TS-9 tone whilst adding sustain. Another thing I was looking for was a comp that was very quiet during operation. Most comps I tried had a lot of noise and hiss when engaged. A lot of that is to do with requiring 9V power; this old beast, which dates to roughly 1981 and is an original model, runs on an 18 V 1/8 inch power supply and is eerily quiet, even with the sustain rolled to 5. I don’t use it to squash as my sustain knob rests at 9 o’clock, but I use it to boost the signal from my guitar to my amp just a tad to really brighten the attack. That pedal is never off and is a huge staple of my tone.”

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