HIgh Times - Dope Sounds

The brainchild of John Harrison, of A Brown Soun Inc. the Tone Tubby speaker (featuring its unique Hempcone) has been the choice of musicians like Eric Clapton, Billy Gibbons, Kirk Hammett, Bob Weir and many others. Harrison started a speaker repair shop in San Rafael, CA. back in 1974, but the Hempcone came to him in 2001. "It was like a lightning bolt hitting a light bulb" he explains. "I heard that a draft of the Declaration of Independence of the United States was written on Hemp paper and thought, wow, if it's still around today (and the original copy is) I wonder what it be like for speaker cones.

"What sets the hempcone apart from other speakers?" we asked. "The main thing is the Hempcone, (obviously)," Harrison replied. "The fibers are longer than wood pulp which has been the most common cone substance for over 40 years. There are no piercing highs that hurt the ears, which has been a problem in paper cone guitar speakers up until now. Sonically, it turned out to be a perfect match and way more musical. So now that you've smoked pot, eaten it, washed your face with it, etc. here's your chance to listen to it.

Guitar One December 2005 BACKLINE BLUEPRINT
Los Lonely Boys

Amidst acres of soundalike guitar-pop and angst-meets-anger metal, Los Lonely Boys' joyous blend of sibling harmony vocals and SRV-style guitar soloing stands out like a daisy in the desert. Guitarist Henry Garza's south-of-the-border charisma and serious Strat chops helped the boys reach the upper rungs of the pop ladder and forge musical friendships with stars from Willie Nelson to Carlos Santana.

Garza's rig is in the classic Stevie Ray Vaughan-style blues vein. It may or may not be due to his heritage, but he favors Mexican Fender Strats--all stock except for the white one, which has Seymour Duncan lipstick pickups. To help prevent string breakage, Garza's tech, Ish, (short for Ishmael), strips insulation off 14-gaugeelectrical wire, puts it over Garza's strings, and slides it down to where they make contact with the bridge plate, a trick long employed by Jeff Beck.
 
His amps include three Marshall JCM 2000s (a spare sits behind the amp line), running into two Tone Tubby 4x12s. For his clean tone, the guitarist uses two Fender Twins with Jensen speakers. A Fender reverb unit adds ambience to the Marshalls. Garza's unadorned tone employs only two effects, a Vox wah and an Ibanez TS-808 Tube Screamer.

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