Anyone know part of Xan McCurdy of Cake's setup to get that great chunky, wanky tone? I know he plays a hollow-body through something like a 4x10 Bassman, but other than that I'm lost. I messed around earlier with a stuck-wah in my chain and that seemed closer. Any ideas?
Will
Awesome band :) - they're completed their new CD this week and it will be out this summer.
I heard somewhere that a lot of the studio tones from the earlier albums were done with cheap guitars and amps, but that may have been a rumor. I think Fashion Nugget was done with a clean Silvertone amp and a Rat for all distortion.
As for Xan and the newer Cake stuff, there are one or two pictures here:
http://www.minutemancomm.com/cake.html
http://www.minutemancomm.com/cake39.jpg
http://www.minutemancomm.com/cake40.jpg
Definitely a semi-hollowbody, and I would bet just about everything is done with the bridge pickup, with the possible exception of the really heavy metal tones, such as you hear in Comfort Eagle (the song).
Beyond that, I'm sorry that I can't be much help, but it seems that no one's really keeping track of what they use. There is a picture of their "recording studio" for the new album on their site, but there isn't any guitar stuff there:
http://www.cakemusic.com/Band/band.html
Thanks for the info good sir. It's such a cool tone that's perfect for their music. So chunky and crisp and all. One of the things that I'm curious about is the tone on Long Line of Cars. I think it's that first electric guitar you hear. Some weird nasally tone. It's tough to pin down.
Will