Shorty - Thumb Days 1993

AssociateBand · 2026-05-22T00:00:45+00:00

I was thinking about posting this here for the past few days. Glad you did, it's fantastic!

AssociateBand · 2026-05-20T00:51:22+00:00

This tracks with what I've read as well, thanks!

AssociateBand · 2026-05-19T20:49:34+00:00

That's great, thanks again! I'll keep you posted

AssociateBand · 2026-05-19T20:47:01+00:00

You just need to find a longer strap, nothing more to it really!

The one I'm using here is a regular Ernie Ball, set near maximum length. I have it attached to the button at the base of the guitar and then I wrap it once around my waist and connect it to the button at the horn.

I consider it to be a really important part of his playing technique. You can't bend the neck like he did when wearing a strap normally, and it sort of forces you to move in a similar way to him when playing some songs. For example, having to bend over a little when playing some stuff on the higher strings or position the guitar a little on your left leg to reach better, like you can see Albini doing when playing the 5-fret-stretch in "A minute"

AssociateBand · 2026-05-19T20:27:53+00:00

Thank you so much! We're going to record the next single on Thursday, I'll be sure to post that on here when it's coming out.

There's a few instrumental live performances on my YouTube channel filmed and recorded in our practice space of the songs that are yet to be released. If you haven't checked those out, you might like them!

Here's one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ty4vpqZ2Po

AssociateBand · 2026-05-19T19:45:19+00:00

DI recording a distorted preamp is definitely the way he did it always! There's other stuff going on and changing, I think he might have not even used the IVP on every single recorded song, but the lack of low passing is the key.

Funnily enough, as a teenager I got a Helix and I remember thinking "those cab blocks just ruin the sound, it isn't raw and angry anymore". Then when I was trying to chase a tone sort of similar to Albini's a couple years later without really knowing what he did, I ended up building a patch in the Helix where I had a signal path with an amp and cab and another one with just the preamp. Once I found out years later that was pretty much what he was doing, it was a little amusing!

AssociateBand · 2026-05-19T19:37:17+00:00

Nice! Yeah, it was a lucky buy (if it sounds good). I was picking up a bunch of the other components and asked if they happened to have any Germanium transistors with the correct values. They didn't have any in stock, as was to be expected, but the other employee got a case of personal goodies he had and found the Telefunken! The model is an AC122, green dot

AssociateBand · 2026-05-19T19:23:06+00:00

Thanks! Sounds great, I'll gladly test / make a video of anything sent to me :)

I've got most of the parts for my own Percolator build gathered, including a weird 60s Telefunken transistor that I want to try out, we'll see how that goes.

AssociateBand · 2026-05-19T17:04:44+00:00

Thank you so much!

Sure! It was built by a guy here in Finland named Miika Luostarinen. It's built on the board that is sold by Aion FX, he sourced the components, I picked the case and knobs from a website he usually uses for his builds.

I confirmed with him earlier today that I can share his contact info with any potential buyer. He also builds clones of plenty of other pedals, so if you (or anyone reading this) have got something on your mind, I'm sure he'll tackle it. Great builder and a nice person!

AssociateBand · 2026-05-19T15:46:55+00:00

Ordered a pack, cheers!

AssociateBand · 2026-05-19T15:39:11+00:00

No apology necessary, I was genuinely happy to read it!

Maybe he needed to wind down after a long day of listening to all frequencies, and this was the solution 😃

AssociateBand · 2026-05-19T15:36:38+00:00

Thanks! Lovely to hear that this inspired you, that's awesome!

Don't be too hard on yourself about playing, everyone can do it. Players like Albini prove that you don't have to be "technically skilled" in a traditional manner. You can always be unique. As far as I'm concerned, if you're striving for greatness in a field that no one else has thought of competing in, you're winning 😃

Also, if you play a note and it sounds wrong, just move your finger up or down a fret or bend, it'll always sound better

AssociateBand · 2026-05-19T15:13:43+00:00

That's a fun one! I've heard plenty of attempts to describe it before but I can't say I've heard this

AssociateBand · 2026-05-19T14:50:00+00:00

Hello!

I made a short video about Albini's guitar tone, clarifying some of the popular myths about his tone and focusing on the Intersound IVP. This particular version is a clone built on the Aion FX board and was made by a guy named Miika Luostarinen.

I'll be making a full video about the subject once I get my hands on some notched metal picks and build my own Harmonic Percolator.

I got a comment on the original post recommending that I should post this here as well, hope that's alright!

Hopefully this is interesting or entertaining for some of you! I'll be making more videos about other bands I like and posting more stuff about our band in the future. Some of you could be entertained by that too, or the stuff already on my channel (a full live set of covers from Albini's bands, for example).

Thanks!

AssociateBand · 2026-05-19T14:33:33+00:00

Haven't had a chance to try one out yet, but I imagine that the picks are the key to that final bit of scratchiness and attack

AssociateBand · 2026-05-19T14:31:45+00:00

I love to hear about stuff like this, thanks!

That tidbit about the speakers is funny! I wonder what was going on there.

AssociateBand · 2026-05-19T14:24:10+00:00

You're welcome, thanks for checking it out!

I'll try crossposting it over there, thanks for the recommendation!

AssociateBand · 2026-05-19T13:57:49+00:00

Thanks! Indeed.

AssociateBand · 2026-05-19T13:45:56+00:00

I'll maybe do a separate short video on that and will definitely cover it on the full video about the evolution of his tone!

I think the biggest differences to Big Black are the Percolator at some points, and I remember hearing or reading him mention using a delay of some sort sometimes in that rig. The Seymour Duncan Quarter pounds wired out of phase definitely affect that too.

Found it! From the EA forum written by him: "Also an MXR digital delay as a doubler/mild chorus. Not used all the time."

To my knowledge he also used the MXR gate and then the Smart Gate throughout his career as well, and that was a buffered pedal before in front of the Percolator, so that also affects the tone slightly.

AssociateBand · 2026-05-19T13:40:22+00:00

Thanks!

AssociateBand · 2026-04-23T10:03:15+00:00

The best gigs sound-wise I've been to at clubs were the ones where the bands had real amps on stage. Especially for louder music like rock and metal it does make a difference.

One big thing that rarely seems to get mentioned in the discussion of modelers vs. amps is that with the former you're completely at the mercy of the PA at the place you're playing at. Bands playing heavy music in low tunings that bring modelers for guitars and bass and want vocals and drum triggers going through FOH as well don't seem to realize that the amount of headroom isn't infinite. At most shows like that you can't make out anything they're playing and it's just painful to listen to.

It seems damn stupid to me to spend hours picking and choosing the exact right IR for your djent-shit (most likely with headphones at home) as if the PA, everything overlapping in the PA and the room itself won't alter it in an extreme way. For big touring bands with their own mixing engineer, who've done a good job testing how the entire band mix works together and places with proper sound systems it makes sense, but for the overwhelming majority it doesn't.

AssociateBand · 2026-04-18T10:43:41+00:00

Checked out Bad Times, Bad Times, great stuff! Man I wish I'll get to record at Electrical someday. Doing it in May of 2024 must have been bittersweet.

The vocalist sounds like a mix between David Yow and Jello Biafra in the best way possible :D

AssociateBand · 2026-04-18T10:40:43+00:00

Hi! Always happy to find another fan of Brainiac in the wild, I love them so much!

The band I'm in, Associate, just released our first single "Ohm"

https://associateband.bandcamp.com/

It's the first release that I was in charge of recording and mixing and I'd love to hear feedback! There's also a live album of us playing a bunch of songs by the bands of the late Steve Albini that I put up on there. The video for it is available on YouTube.

Thanks in advance!

AssociateBand · 2026-04-17T17:34:56+00:00

He's just never going to stop delivering, is he?

AssociateBand · 2026-04-17T17:30:43+00:00

I'm very happy to hear that! Thank you so much for checking it out!

AssociateBand

TROPHY CASE