Tim Bluhm
San Anselmo, CA
The Mother Hips
www.motherhips.com/
How long have you been a musician? How did you get into it in the first place?
I’ve been singing since I was a kid, in church choirs and in school choruses. I started playing guitar right after high school. In my second year of college I started the Mother Hips with Greg Loiacono and we started getting gigs really quickly.
Who have been some of your major musical influences, past or present?
The Beach Boys have kind of been the most influential band in my life, starting when I was really little. I loved Little Richard and Buddy Holly, then the Stray Cats. After that of course was the Beatles, the Stones, Zeppelin, Sabbath, Deep Purple, Cream. When I heard Neil Young I really felt like playing guitar was something I could do. Then it was Buffalo Springfield, Love, the Byrds and then finally old country, and especially Merle Haggard.
What drew you to using pedals initially? Have you been using them throughout your playing career? How have pedals helped to shape your sound, or influence the style that you’ve created?
My first rig was a ’72 Twin Reverb and a ’65 ES-330. I was so amazed by the way that sounded that it didn’t even occur to me to use pedals. I had that glorious reverb and tremelo! After quite a few years of gigging and touring, my friend talked me into getting a tuner. That helped a lot. We were smoking a ton of grass back then and we would spend a lot of time standing on stage during a show trying to tune strings. A bit later I got a volume pedal which I still use in my path. (I recently gave up on Ernie Ball VPJR’s and am now trying Lehle Mono Volume pedals.)
I think the first pedal I got that really changed my tone was an old Big Muff. I really like fuzz but I have always found it difficult to get it sitting right in a live setting. It didn’t last long. I think I got a RAT after that, but I ended up giving it to Greg. So I kind of learned from those experiences that I mostly just like the sound of the guitar going right into a Fender amp.
What’s your current setup look like? Take us through your pedal rig (feel free to include amps and instruments as well if you’d like):
My current set-up is still pretty basic. I almost always use a ’68 or ’71 ES-335. On my pedal board right now is a Klon KTR or a KWM Klone, a Hartman treble booster, an EHX Small Stone or a script MXR Phase 90, an MXR Carbon Copy and a Catalinbread Topanga reverb pedal. Kidd’s Kables countersunk a loop switcher into the front of a Pedaltrain board and built an in/out box as well. All the cabling everywhere is hand-made by Kidd’s Kables as well. I recently acquired a Catalinbread Montevillian delay and a Chase Bliss Wombtone phaser which I haven’t put on my board yet but they have been amazing sounding in my studio. I use the VooDoo Labs Pedal Power II underneath.
I had an amplifier built by Fat Jimmy Amplifiers in Petaluma that is basically a 40 watt Fender Pro circuit. Everything is stripped down so the head only weighs 18 lbs. There’s no reverb or tremelo. I’ve actually really enjoyed using a reverb pedal because it gives me more control and is not as prone to breaking on the road. I must have 10 broken reverb tanks at my house. For tremelo these days I just do it manually with the volume pedal. Anyway, the Avionic, as the amp is called, fits in a Pelican case along with a small “fly” board and weighs in at exactly 50 lbs. If I’m flying, which I usually am, I just take that Pelican case and a guitar and check both of them. Then I can plug in my head to the speakers of a backlined amp and have nearly my favorite tone every night. I get really sad when I have to use a reissue Fender amp. If I’m doing gigs in California I’ll usually use a Twin Reverb cabinet that has two Jupiter Ceramic 12″s in it, but no amp. That is my favorite set-up for playing loud, and it has replaced my beloved 1968 Super Reverb.
Favorite type of pedal (drive, delay, fuzz, etc. – more than one answer is always acceptable!):
My favorite type of pedal is a boost. I love the Rangemaster type of top boost. I really like those Xotic EP Boosters, even on acoustic guitar sometimes. I really like the Klon KTRs that I have, maybe just a bit more than the KWM. I do love fuzz but I use it more in the studio than live. I have one of those yellow Experience pedals that has fuzz and swell controls. It can get super gnarly. I like the JHS Colour Box. It works a lot like a real Neve 1073 but costs about a 10th as much. You can get really nice guitar tones without using an amp, from pretty clean to very, very nasty.
I guess I really like phase too. I have a Maestro phaser, a Musitronics Phasor II, a few MXR Phase 90’s, the Chase Bliss Wombtone and an EHX Small Stone. They’re all different and work well for different stuff.
You’re stranded on a desert island – which three (3) of the following do you want to have?
Gibson ES-335 with Bigsby
Hardtail Fender Stratocaster
Boswell Guitars Brazilian rosewood/Adirondack spruce dreadnought.
Deluxe Reverb
Gibson Skylark
Fat Jimmy Avionic
Dallas Rangemaster
Klon Centaur
Musitronics Bi-Phase
What’s up next for you/your band(s)?
New Mother Hips record coming out early 2017. Two solo records coming out in 2017.
The Klon hype: Love it or Hate it?
I don’t like the Klon hype at all. I have never felt like spending that much money on a pedal. It simply isn’t worth it to me.
But I wouldn’t mind having one.
Thanks so much to Tim for taking the time to answer some questions! Make sure to go check out www.motherhips.com, cheers!
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