Das Mischpult SILVESTRIS – Ein Vollröhren-Mischpult für ... - EMSP

Abschlußbericht Mixed Signal Baugruppen 2008/9 Mischpult SILVESTRIS (Teil 1) Einführung
If you had the old one now it would be worth thousands. I don’t know if you’ve heard of a guy called
Danny Gatton. He’s an American guitarist from Washington and he told me he thinks he has your
ES295.
“No, a guy by the name of Jimmy Velvet has a museum; he has the original and the body’s busted
on it. D.J. here can tell you that he’s traveled all these years and he says he’s run into my guitars all
over the world!”
The amplifier that you’re using on this tour, is that the Ray Butts amp that you used on Elvis’
‘Comeback Special’?
“Right, it’s an amp I got in late 1954. Ray Butts made the first one for his own guitar player, then he
took it to Nashville and showed it to Chet Atkins and Chet bought one. Then I heard Chet using his on
some records and started investigating and found out how he was getting that sound. So I drove up
to Illinois, where Ray was living at the time and got him to build me one. And I’ve had it ever since. In
fact Ray did a little work on it before we came over on this trip.”
What kind of power output has it?
“It’s 175 watts, through just one 12” speaker, and it has a tape loop built into it.”
Did it transport here okay?
“No, the airline just about destroyed it! I had it in an Anvil case, and a shipping crate built for it which
cost almost as much as the amp did originally, and it got thrown or dropped real badly, did quite a
bit of damage to it. I managed to get it working, but I’ll have to have some extensive repairs done to
it when I get back home.”
Is it correct that up until this tour you hadn’t played, literally, for twenty years?
“That’s correct. I did one record with Carl Perkins in ’75, ‘EP Express’, and overdubbed a couple of
things for Billy Swann. But the last thing I did was for a guitar player in Nashville, Chip Young, who put
together an album – which incidentally is getting released pretty soon – and he has ten tracks with
ten different guests: local session players, myself, Chet’s on one, Grady Martin, Jerry Reed, Jerry
Kennedy, Wayne Moss and various other guys, but I think guitar players out there will like it.”
I know that if you don’t play for a week, that can be great; sometimes you actually fire up and feel
better and play differently. But what’s it like after twenty years?
“It’s rough! Like you say, a couple of days off now and then, you seem to come back a little bit more
fired up. But no, if you hang it up that long it’s hard work. But I guess the bug bit. Carl Perkins and
myself, with D.J. and everybody, got together and did an album in April. It was something that he
and I talked about over a two-year period, and then he got hit with throat cancer a little over a year
ago. But I called him up one day and asked him how he was doing and he said things were pretty
good, so I asked if he still wanted to do that album. We talked back and forth and eventually went
back to Sun studio and did a few tracks down there. And then we took a remote truck down to Carl’s
house and did a few things in his den. We didn’t go in and try to do a hit record, just a documentary,
homecoming get together with a bunch of friends. We did some of the old songs and Carl wrote a
few things we did new.
“But I bring that up because you were asking about how you get back into it after that length of time.
On the album I make the comment that somebody had asked me the same question and I said,
‘Yep, my left hand’s doing good, right hand’s doing alright, my mind’s as sharp as a tack. Now if I can
get all three of them to work together we’ll be alright…!’”
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