Matt Johnson
Coeur d’Alene, Idaho
Tortuga Effects
www.tortugaeffects.com
How long have you been a musician? How did you get into it in the first place?
I’ve been playing guitar and bass for 26 years, but started as a musician on cello, three years before that. I remember wanting to play cello because being in the school band meant you had to blow into things. I didn’t want to do that. I also didn’t want to sit in my classroom during music class so I chose the orchestra. I didn’t want to play violin because it was a “girl’s instrument” or the viola because it was too much like the violin. The string bass was too big so that left the cello. I eventually grew to love it and when I got into my teens and wanted to be a rock star, it made it very easy to switch over.
Who have been some of your major musical influences, past or present?
Jimi Hendrix, Jaco Pastorius, Metallica. I could list more but it would take up a few pages. Those three names pretty much sum up it up, though.
What led to the start of Tortuga Effects? How long have you been in business?
I started building pedals ten years ago and started Tortuga Effects a year later. I worked in a high-end guitar store for 12 years before that and sold just about everything. When it came to effects, I saw a lot of things that could be improved upon. After a year of customer input and my own ideas, I went out on my own and started my company.
I am and always have been a one-man shop. That was the idea back then and still is. When I quit my day job to do this, it was the month before the economy tanked in ’08. I saw a lot of companies in this industry go down because they’d gotten too big and it stuck with me. I like that I can keep everything under control.
Did you have formal schooling, or are you self-taught? Take us through that story:
I have a well-trained ear from getting tones for customers and playing great gear over the years and applied that to building pedals. I’m completely self-taught with some help here and there from others in the industry. I started with building kits from BYOC and just figured it out from there.
Knowing what you want to hear is the most important part. I knew the end tone I wanted to get and just had to figure out how to get there. I see a lot of guys with electronics degrees get into pedal building but have no idea what players actually want, let alone how to sell a product or get a great tone. I’m glad I went the backwards way.
What drives you as far as new pedal creation is concerned? How long does it typically take for an idea to come full circle and become a demo pedal? What’s the process behind new gear, and the eventual release of it to the public?
Since I’m a small, one-man shop, the whole process is pretty fast. If I have a new idea for a pedal, I mock it up, prototype it, voice it and figure out a look/marketing strategy in just a few weeks at the most. Since I have a pretty cohesive look for all of my pedals, it’s pretty easy to fit a new one in.
What are some of the biggest concerns facing your profession today?
Our industry is constantly shrinking and has been for the past couple of decades. There are less guitar players out there and less people are learning guitar.
Also, when no one can play live and get paid, it makes it hard to justify having expensive guitar gear. It think the boutique pedal market falls right in the middle of all of that. We sell very specified pieces of gear to a market that is getting smaller. I stand by the fact that I’m only a one-man shop because of this. It allows me to flow with the ever-changing sized of our industry.
There are also a million new pedal builders popping up every day doing the same old thing. Granted, most of them don’t make it past a year, but it still waters down an already very small market.
Where do you see pedal building going in the future?
There will always be high-end boutique pedal builders. I think, with technology advancing and the accessibility of the internet, a lot of players will begin building their own pedals. Hell, Build Your Own Clone makes kits for just about every effect you could dream of and, like I said before, it’s not that hard to teach yourself.
Who are some of your favorite builders in the industry right now?
Honestly, I don’t play out much any more. I do have my own board but it’s filled with my own effects. I’ve always liked what Zvex has done with their original graphics and unique tones. They were a big influence on me when I started.
Although I love my Don Grosh and PRS guitars, my shop guitar and amp were both built by me. I even built the Strat I use to teach lessons. I haven’t bought a piece of gear in probably 8 years.
Name the last 5 records you listened to:
I just opened my iTunes history and this is what it said:
1. Thriller – Michael Jackson
2. Black – Dierks Bentley
3. Born and Raised – John Mayer
4. Dirt – Alice in Chains
5. Hardwired… To Self Destruct – Metallica
The Klon hype: Love it or Hate it?
Never saw the point. Great sounding pedal but there are lots of great overdrives out there. All of them are different – not all are great for your rig. I used a Klon to voice my Abduction overdrive. I liked it. I like my Abduction better.
Any last comments, or anything you’d like to talk about?
Pedals don’t make tone, they only add some color to your existing tone. My advice to anyone wanting to get into buying boutique pedals it to make sure the rest of your rig is top-notch first. Guitar, amp, cables – these are all more important than anything a pedal can do for you. After you have all of those figured out, then you can go and craft your tone from there. Honestly, most of the stuff myself and other high-end builders do is completely lost when your guitar and amp just aren’t what they could be.
Also, if you buy a Squier Strat, a solid-state Fender amp and a Tube Screamer, I’m sorry to say, you will not sound like SRV. Actually, even if you had SRV’s exact rig, you still will never sound like Stevie Ray Vaughn – because you’re not him. Be influenced by the greats, but ultimately be your own player.
Finally, if anyone is interested in what I do when I’m not building pedals, I write novels. Western novels to be exact. If anyone is interested, my pen name is Matt Prescott. www.mat-prescott.com
Thanks so much to Matt for taking the time to answer some questions! Make sure to go check out www.tortugaeffects.com to peruse all of their gear – Cheers!
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