It was built by Tony Revell, who used to specialize in Rickenbacker-guitar-looking mandolins. My dad was stationed in Okinawa, he was in the Air Force, and he picked up a $60 Goya electric and gave it to me. Tom played it on American Girl and used it for rhythm parts on several albums. You write songs primarily on guitar right? What I remember most was that all of us fell out of the front-man thing, you know? As for the infamous Rickenbacker that accompanies Petty on the cover of 1979s Damn The Torpedoes, Campbell says its as important to him as it is to every guitar lover whos stared at it over the years. It sings. Nothing matters other than tone. The truth is the new ones just arent as good, are they? But I havent been able to find one. SPONSORED. Its the one Ive used the most, and I bought it because Roger McGuinn played one. It makes a beautiful sound. I didnt care what year it was, he says. And maybe I learned a couple of other Dylan songs. My very first guitar, when I was 14, was pretty much unplayable. Mike Campbell has a resume that speaks for itself. But no, I dont think its the last tour. They still make them, and theyre really good, actually. But if I had a choice, Id probably use my old D-28. Any particular songs stick in your mind from back then? No matter what you hit, it sounds beautiful.. Campbell relies on a rare Dunlop Camel Toe for his distortion, a Line 6 DL-4, the Green Meanie switch (which brings his Fender Excelsior amp in and out), a DigiTech Whammy II, Line 6 MM-4, a custom switch for his 1962 reissue Fender reverb tank, a Boss RC-30, and a Boss TU-2 tuner. Those two bottles and an old tshirt will get your D-28 looking great. He tunes the guitar down a whole step, and has been using it on the Hypnotic Eye tour for "American Girl". We still have that kind of awe about what we do.. We were out of control!Over the years, Campbell has picked up a laundry list of dream instruments. I think I was 16. Rick said, I got this track of Mikes. He then gave it to Tom, and I dont think he remembered it. So I always use that guitar on that song. We took it to Rickenbacker, and they called it a mystery. They didnt know what it was. As for effects, there is a Boss GT6 multi-effects unit on sale, but don't spend all your money on that until you've considered the MKII Watkins Copicat tape echo, which would look nice in your home studio, right? It's so haunting and demonic in many ways, both in lyrics and music. In the eighties, the Sonic Youth leader emerged as indie rock's premier guitar radical, mixing strange drone tunings, jamming screwdrivers or drumsticks under his strings, and blasting out. In 1970, Campbell was two years out of high school and living in. Next, the video moves onto a '80s - '90s-era white Firebird V Campbell picked up while on tour with Fleetwood Mac. She may not be the best cook. As we begin our nearly two-hour conversation, Mike Campbell admits that even after more than 40 years as the lead guitarist in the venerable Heartbreakers band, the pressure is still on him. Here are some highlights. Mentioned in this March 1983 Musician article. Yeah, its about time, you know? Its my main Gibson. Rickenbacker Tom Petty Limited Edition Model 660/12TP Elect Fender American Vintage '59 Stratocaster Electric Guitar, Ernie Ball Regular Slinky Guitar Strings 10-46, Find relevant music gear like guitar rig, amplifier setup, effects pedalboard, and other instruments and. If you were looking for something that little bit different with a stunning iconic tone then this is the guitar for you. Also LA, because thats sort of our home town, maybe Chicago and, on this tour, Seattle and Fenway Park in Boston. In this photo, Campbell is seen playing the mapleglo Rickenbacker 330. This guitar looks like the tail of a 1959 Cadillac. I had a Gibson Dove, and he had the Stratocaster. Meanwhile, I fell in love with Scotty Moores playing. Well, nothings written in stone. It used to have this great built-in fuzz and the destruct button built into it. Featured in this page from the Elite Guitars website. The cool thing about the guitars on that record, the electric guitars anyway, was that some were recorded direct. All rights reserved. No,I had a three-speed turntable, so I could slow down 45s to 33 r.p.m., and 33s down to 16. Equipboard breaks down the gear, tools, and products used by artists, pros, and influencers in their craft. The bottom line is about tone. Talk about your red Rick 660/12, the guitar thats very closely associated with you and is pictured on Damn the Torpedoes. But I really concentrated on being I guess, because Id been a bass player, I wanted to play rhythm in a real solid way. It has two Gibson humbucking pickups and a normal Telecaster pickup in the bridge.". In the Wilburys, you were with Harrison and Dylan. That was a real exciting time. Still Thrilled. You cant just walk away from a dot-neck 335 that nice.. I wanna give you my guitar. I thought he was crazy on drugs or something. England and Wales company registration number 2008885. MR. BIG Addicted to that Rush Vintage 1989 Promotional Guitar Pick Paul Gilbert. Listed for sale on Reverb.com on July 21, 2021. Do you keep a pretty close inventory of all guitars? One of Campbells most prized guitars in his collection is a white Firebird signed by the doyen of white Firebirds Johnny Winter, and by legendary jazz drummer Philly Joe for good measure. Yes, I always loved Luther Perkins. This Magnatone Custom 260 High Fidelity is owned by Mike Campbell. Its hard, theres just so many great guitarists from that era, its just hard to narrow them down to who your favorites are, but George is definitely one of mine. I just dont like the way they look never really wanted one. "This one, '59 B-Bender, it's tuned for 'American Girl.' $8.25 shipping. They just instinctively picked up on the tones and the feel of it.. I want to play good instruments, and I dont have much patience with new instruments. Well, its mostly about the groove, isnt it? Theyre both difficult in their own way. Boiled down, the music of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers is defined by a handful of essential elements: their leader's character-filled voice, songs about life and its toils, swirling B-3 organ, and - much as anything - Mike Campbell's . And I go, It sounds like Clapton and Jimmy Page, Peter Green, Mike Bloomfield, like it reminded me of those tones. Also of note is Campbell's '62 Les Paul SG Junior, which he bought at a video store, of all places for just $120. Mike Campbell Heartbreaker American Standard Telecaster Electric Guitar We're sorry-this item is unavailable. I could play the whole show with a Tele or a Les Paul or an SG. duplicated, some of them were edited or compiled together. And of course Mark Knopfler, who I think sounds like he soaks up a lot of J.J.s thing. Theyre tools, and I look at them like colors or paint brushes; each has a different texture or color, and if thats what you need, only that guitar will make that sound. Its so easy to play. Campbell himself mentions the Rat in this September 1999 "Spotlight on a Heartbreaker" interview from the official Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers website. Is there any particular guitarist who influenced the way you play guitar? Itll probably be a long time before I get to do another one. "I could hardly push the strings down, and I figured, Man, these guys Im watching play the guitar must be strong! Then I went to my friends house and he had an SG. 3-4 of this interview in Tone Quest Report Vol. Guitars Yeah, it was interesting to know what thats like, backing somebody. Which contemporary guitarists grab your attention? Those are our main ones. Highway Companion I think I wrote entirely on guitar. So, the next time I talked to Tom, I told him about this guy we might want to work with. For more information on Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers and the Mike Campbell guitar series, please visit TomPetty.com. And we did it at Jeffs home studio. "It was Toms guitar in the early years for quite a while. "They said it was the next guitar off the assembly line after George Harrisons", Thats my original 12-string, he explains. In terms of bass players in the Heartbreakers, is there a way to compare and contrast the styles of Ron Blair and Howie Epstein? They know what works to achieve a particular sound, and there's a little bit of room to see what else might be interesting. Do you think the guitar, more than any other instrument, has propelled your success? I mean, I have them on my wall to look at. As we begin our nearly two-hour conversation, Mike Campbell admits that even after more than 40 years as the lead guitarist in the venerable Heartbreakers band, the pressure is still on him. Today, nearly 50 years beyond Love Me Tender and Love Me Do, he is the personification of the rock star created by the Beatles appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show. And 30 years after his band, the Heartbreakers, formed in Gainesville, Florida, he is still making an impact, still being a force in a medium famous for devouring all but the biggest of its stars. The laconic raconteur of rock very much appreciates that his style never goes out of style, and in selling some 50 million albums he has pandered to nobody not fans, not managers, not record labels. And even years before the Beatles played on Ed Sullivan, your aunt took you to a movie set, where you saw Elvis. Was this in the days of strumming chords, or were you picking out the solos at the same time? When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. But we also draw from what weve already done, and we try not to repeat ourselves. If its not, Ill feel like I didnt do my job. We made some demos, sent them out to a bunch of record companies, and got rejected by almost everybody except for London and Denny Cordells label, Shelter. I want to get back and finish those things. Its also a very quick way of working Highway Companion was three months. Aug 9, 2015 - Mike Campbell's (Tom Petty's Lead Guitarists ) Gator Guitar . And theyre all there and Jeff was the kinda urging me, Go ahead play. So I played a little, but I was really scared, you know, cause heres George Harrison(pauses) I just felt very intimidated. (Image credit: Richard McCaffrey/ Michael Ochs Archive/ Getty Images), Beatles and Rolling Stones members reportedly collaborating on new album, How to make an ambient pad like Jean-Michel Jarre's Oxygene, Guitarist magazine demos the new PRS model that could set the standard for sub-$1000 electric guitars in 2023, Guitarist upgrades his $569 PRS SE 245 guitar to get it closer to a $5,000 USA Core Tremonti model, Brian Eno kept a backup, backup laptop in a fridge for his Acropolis gig with brother Roger, Timbaland chats to Justin Timberlake about how they produced some of their greatest songs: He started humming and Im like Oh, this is it. So Tom began writing songs and taking leadership of the band thank God because nobody else had much direction at the time. Do you have any specific plans or goals for the Heartbreakers for the next few years other than finishing the various projects? Jimmy Iovine came in to produce it, and we had a big hit (Refugee). Well, it sort of built. Ours was the first solidbody one. And who else there arent too many new/younger bands that I listen to much. But there are certain songs where I use a certain guitar on the record that just has a certain colour and when I use the same guitar as I did on the record, it just sounds better because its perfectly right for that song. It was just perfect. Campbell has been at Pettys side throughout. The guitar carousel in action, he laughs. As long as weve been doing this, we still draw from the same places and people who inspired us when we were young. That guitar has the tone. 24) Mark in GA asked: What kind of guitar, pick-ups, amps, any effects pedals, etc. Another favourite we have to ask about is his mysterious pale blue Gretsch. We were band members again. But I also wont sacrifice [tonal] colour for convenience.. Used on a slew of recordings, Campbell himself mentions the guitar in this September 1999 "Spotlight on a Heartbreaker" interview from the official Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers website. So in my spare time, I would just try to invent them. Its got so much history. Tom Petty and Mike Campbell both know what a good guitar sound is, so the guitar sound they end up with is the one they wanted. CAMPBELL! Its one of those. Then I got my draft notice, took the physical, and failed the hearing test. My guitar tech has been bugging me to go and actually take pictures of them and make a computer file. The best $150 Mike Campbell ever spent! The Mike Campbell II features a so called "Destruct Knob" placed at the lower cutaway, which enables you to boost the signal by up to 10db, controlling distortion and feedback at any time with the touch of . Well, whatever we were playing at the time, we were usually playing in a video. "But I also have a 59 kind of Jimmy Page one thats really great, and I have one thats a 56, too. Future Publishing Limited Quay House, The Ambury, Im really proud of those records. Oh, yeah my god I wouldnt want that responsibility (laughs)! Don't miss the latest deals, news, reviews, features and tutorials. Amps A variety of things, Martins mostly, and some Gibsons. "As weve gone along, thats become a bit of a good problem to have. We used them on the new record. Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers: Tom Petty (vocals, guitar, harmonica); Mike Campbell (vocals, guitar, bass); Benmont Tench (piano, electric pianos, organ, Chamberlin, Clavinet); Howie Epstein (bass, background vocals).Additional personnel: Scott Thurston (acoustic & electric guitars); Steve Ferrone (drums); Lenny Castro (percussion).Producers: Tom Petty, Mike Campbell, Rick Rubin.Engineers . I like to be able to just pull them out and use them on impulse if I need to. Fast forward to you first bands, the Epics, and then Mudcrutch. We think whoever had it filed the horn down to make it look like Johns and painted it black. That soon changed, though. This article originally appeared in VGs November 2006 issue. Ive refinished it since that day. $24.99. How much does the guitar influence the way you write songs? Which we didnt discover, but George Harrison discovered because he had the second one. The songs mostly came from acoustic rhythm standpoint. Many of your videos are today considered groundbreaking, in retrospect. And he played his Les Paul a bit. Lisa asked: How old were you when you started playing the guitar and what kind of guitar was it? Campbells solution was to mount his favourite acoustic and electric guitars above his head on some rigging, using remote control to bring them down within reach. I just woke up the other day and realized that I have been collecting guitars and amps my whole life and I just don't have room for a lot of them anymore, said Campbell. Yeah, the Red Dog. We bought that in Florida from an old guitar student of mine. He's had it for years and years and years, but he's just really fell in love with it for this tour. And I dont think the Wilburys was really about who we were, it was more about that we were friends, and we enjoyed being together. Product Description To commemorate over 30 years of Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers, Duesenberg have along with Mike Campbell created a beautiful signature guitar brings you classic Doozy tones in a hot rodded semi hollow design. So, many of the solos are on a tiny amp in a big room. Just paring it down to a song and a story. That Excelsior, because they have the green one and other ones, but Nate White, at Fender, when these came out Mike did something with Danny Harrison at A&M and that Green Fender amp was there and he asked about getting it. He said, No, Ive got it in my trunk and I cant really play it. Ive seen the prototype and its incredible. What do you remember about opening it up on that Christmas Day? "The Garden has always been one of my favourite places. Its a little-body one. Sporting just one pickup and a pair of control knobs, it's the guitar Campbell used for his solo on Petty's classic 1989 tune, Runnin Down a Dream. And weve gone full circle back to using them again. Call us at 800-449-9128. And ever since, youve been the guitar player who Tom seems reluctant to go into the studio without. I told Tom that and he was really happy. Yeah, I do it all the time. We were just together around the clock, all the time. He came over with Mick it was the first time I met Rick and I gave him a couple of tracks. As soon as I got the guitar and knew a few chords, I tried to write songs, because I didnt know a lot of songs. Its a six-string. Like Neo., See Eric Clapton make a surprise guest appearance with Jerry Douglas to pay tribute to Jeff Beck and play While My Guitar Gently Weeps, Larry Carlton demos his $641 Sire signature guitar, Nuno Bettencourt explains his secret to playing difficult guitar solos it involves getting his leg up, Music meets gaming in the Beat Machine, the world's first music-making arcade machine. I think its better that they get used. In your eyes, whats the difference between a Tom Petty solo record and a Heartbreakers album? No, were not good trackers (laughs)! Wed love to stay in touch, sign up for The Pick team to contact you with great news, content and offers. So what age were you when you asked for a guitar? But that broke up, and then I saw an ad that said Mudcrutch was looking for a drummer. Mike Campbell Roles Guitarist Genres Rock Pop Groups Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers Fleetwood Mac show all ALL 84 Guitars 32 Amplifiers 12 Effects Pedals 22 Studio Equipment 8 World Instruments 2 Cables 1 Microphones 3 Strings 1 Bass Guitars 1 Studio Monitors 2 Sort by: Most Relevant Hide incorrect submissions Hed put a little blackface Fender Champ with two microphones out there, and most of the time wed just plug in and move the mics around to find a sweet spot in the room for a particular song. Well, they all became my dear friends, you know? Not as much the brown ones I like the piggyback ones. Well, I dont know its over 100, and theyre all really good ones. Visit our corporate site (opens in new tab). But George is probably my pinnacle of inspiration he and people like him. So I made the neck wider, and changed a few cosmetic things put the gold pickup and gold pickguard on the sunburst, which I dont think they were doing. I studied it quite a bit at slow speed and tried to figure out what he was doing. What was it like, standing in a room playing alongside those guys? And amongst fans, hes a hero who, while keeping them entertained through parts of four decades, has battled to hold down the retail prices of his albums and concert tickets. In fact, I was starting to think you were tracking, which didnt make any sense. Watch Mike Campbell show off his epic guitar collection By Jonathan Horsley published April 08, 2022 The Dirty Knobs frontman sits down with Gibson to talk guitars and reveal some of his favourites, from the Runnin' Down A Dream SG Jr to the obligatory '59 Les Paul Standard Paul Gray was first and foremost an incredible songwriter, who contributed some of the best stuff Slipknot has ever put out. The best places to look for gear usage are typically on the artist's social media, YouTube, To receive email updates when Mike Campbell is seen with new gear. On the subject of television, you, the Heartbreakers, and MTV kind of grew up together, and your early videos are just chock full of the guitars that fans came to know pretty well through the years. Only one thing that got me hooked. I have decided to sell some of the nicer pieces.. Explore Mike Campbell's incredible vintage guitar 'carousel' in new episode of Gibson TV's The Collection By Jackson Maxwell published April 12, 2022 The Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and Fleetwood Mac guitar legend tells the story of his '59 'Burst Les Paul, the '62 SG Junior he played on Runnin' Down a Dream and more I try not to (chuckles) because thatll wear you out. I wasnt playing guitar yet, but I just loved the sound of it, Scotty Moore stuff, and of course Buddy Hollys guitar playing. Amongst his peers today, Petty is revered. Petersen Concert guitar model A 6. Yeah, it does. Instead of playing music in the living room, we took it to the studio. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Agnesi begins the proceedings by asking Campbell about his 1959 'Burst Les Paul Standard. Did you hold your finger on the label as it would spin? But I didnt know any better! Therell be a certain sound that we want, and cant get with a Stratocaster, but a Gretsch makes that sound. His favourite 12-string at the moment is also, of course, a Rickenbacker. Damn The Torpedoes was kind of a breakthrough record. As much as the music of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers is identified by Pettys singular voice, the tone and licks of guitarist Mike Campbell have left an indelible signature on the bands work over the last 30 years theyre as much a part of the musics voice as is Pettys. Its smaller, but really nice 50s Fenders a Telecaster, the three Strats, a couple of nice Fender six-string basses. For instance, you played Vox Phantom in the video for Refugee.. . The bulk of his sound comes from a 1963 Fender Princeton and a 1954 Fender tweed Deluxe. In your view, what makes a good bass player? Campbell's guitar tech, Steve Winstead, walks us through every guitar, amp, and pedal and lets us in on Campbell's time-tested formula for great tone. I dont know if it was an homage to the guitar, but we thought there should be at least a token instrument. But I did my best, and I didnt really think it was very good. There is also a vintage National amp, a Gibson Lab Series L5 combo which was a big favorite of B.B. I find it very interesting to see that he runs both the Princeton and the Deluxe clean, and then uses the Camel Toe for overdrive, and apparently the Fender Excelsior for a soloboost. 'Cept it's not a Rickenbacker. It looked good and I liked the way it felt and I didnt have a white one.. Early on, I wasnt buying guitars, because I couldnt afford em! Together, the two have been the key to an unmistakable rock and roll sound created by one of pop musics longest-lasting entities. Get the latest and greatest Guitar news with one of our guitar magazine subscriptions. It reminded me of Jerry Garcia. Mike also has another band called The Dirty Knobs, which is his sideband. Well, that was kind of the first rule of that particular video. Theyve cloned it for me and are going to reissue that soon. Right away, I just loved the song, you know? The legendary Dan Erlewine, luthier Gene Imbody and Berklees Tomo Fujita have shot a 6-point lesson video to help, Sample diggers use Google Assistant to reveal the source of previously undiscovered samples in music from Daft Punk, "We are changing vintage guitar collecting forever": Gibson officially launches Certified Vintage program, Producer Mura Masa says that PinkPantheresss Boys A Liar was made in a couple of hours, and that he didnt know about the Ice Spice 'Pt 2' remix until he saw the video.