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Gear

Michael's Musical Gear:

Instruments:

My pride and joy is the Red Beauty, a violin by a luthier named Emile Mennesson. The instrument was made in Reims, France, circa 1890. 116 years young. I don't perform with this violin much because I haven't put a pick-up on it yet (and I'm careful about the environment I put it in), but you can see it in action at the GreenBridge show at the Home Of Truth in February www.greenbridge.us. This is the instrument that I do most of my recording with, as on the recent Tempest CD, The Double Cross www.tempestmusic.com (it's rich tone can be especially discerned on the solo on the song Hangman and on the intro to the tune set Black Eddy) and my solo album, Fiddler's Creed. This instrument brought the joy back to fiddling for me, I hope it does for some of you when you hear it.

5 string custom design electric violin by John Jordan of Concord, CA. Barbera Transducer Bridge. This all black instrument is my "race car": it's design is ergonomically superb, it incorporates modern technology, and has been the mainstay of my performance with Tempest for almost ten years. It is incredibly stable and rugged and yet plays with ease, and there is no weight on my left hand at all. And did I say it has five strings?...

5 string acoustic-electric Zeta violin. I play it on stage when I need an acoustic sound with Tempest. It has a great sound and it's green! It figures prominently in the recent batch of photos of Tempest, and I recorded the tune Slippery Slide on The Double Cross with this instrument.

I call my main performance acoustic four string violin Old Faithful. It's a German-made Roman-Teller, circa 1975. The pick-up system is a Barcus Berry piezo bridge that is almost as old as the violin but still sounds good enough. I bought the violin and the pick-up system as a junior in high school from money earned working in a fruit-packing shed in Reedley: peaches, nectarines, plums, and lots of overtime. It was on display in a music store where my brother Pat worked in Long Beach.

My viola was made in 1866 in Indianapolis. I can't make out the name on the tag on the inside, but I have it on good authority that it's not a maker anyone has ever heard of so the instrument is probably completely unique. The instrument a few has interesting design features, and I used it fairly extensively for the low end stuff (which I would normally just play on one of my 5 strings) on The Double Cross: you can hear it's rich sonority in the first verse of Hangman. It made it's recording debut on the tune Fiddler's Creed on my solo album of the same name.

For those rare few of you who have seen me play guitar, my guitar is an Alvarez, made by a Japanese luthier named Kazuo Yairi.

Bow:
"Spiccato" by Roland. Excellent composite, as good as a wood bow of twice the price, and very difficult to break (always a plus when I'm on stage with Tempest...). I have a Coda "Conservatory" bow as a back up (also a decent composite bow). My good wood bow is a Lewis and Son, and a viola bow by Ernst Heinrich Roth. I have a few other miscellaneous bows.

Strings:
D'Addario Helicore on the 5 strings (perfect balance) Pirastro Obligato Dark on the Mennesson, and Pirastro Chromcor on the Roman-Teller (decent compromise between plugged in and acoustic tone-I recently tried Obligato strings on this instrument and may be switching...)

Amplification:
Zeta AP -12 Amp 85 watt 2 channel. Amazing rich tone, but not quite loud enough, so I supplement on stage with a little Hot Spot with the most god-aweful tone on earth but it'll cut through any sonic soup in existence.
Boss AD-5 Acoustic Instrument Preamp
Shure LX Wireless

FX:
Currently, all Boss stomp boxes: great sounds and built like tanks. Chromatic Tuner TU-2, Octave OC-2, Digital Delay DD-5, Digital Reverb/Delay RV-3, Phase Shifter PH-3, Digital Delay DD-6, Equalizer GE-7. In that order in the fx chain. My effects are subject to change without notice, so this may or mayn't be current by the time this goes to print. For example I just ordered a Boss RC-20 LoopStation: I don't know if it can fit into a Tempest milieu (or any of the ensembles I currently perform with), but it's going to be fun none-the-less...

 

Copyright 2004-2006 Michael Mullen
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