This article series is about the tools of popular guitarists. What are their favorite guitars and how is it related to them? This time with Max Karon (Once Human).
Pressefotos by Jeremy Saffer
When you start guitar playing and do you remember your first guitar?
I got a Fender Squier and a practice amp on my 11th birthday, but it sat in the corner collecting dust for two years. When I turned thirteen, I had a sudden and powerful urge to play after meeting the drummer of Korn and seeing a bunch of their gear up close.
What are your influences and which guitar players are your favs?
My influences started with nu-metal, turned to a devout passion for Meshuggah, and are now a strange mix of absolutely not heavy music and life experiences. For example, I think travel, social interaction, and just ‘getting out of the house’ are the biggest influences on my writing, lately. As far as influential players, I think Fredrik Thordendal will always make my list (listening to SNW was the closest thing I had to a religion in high school). Dave Davidson is really holding it down with zero boring note choices, Jari Mäenpää is a timeless beast, Sylvain Coudret is like a fine wine, and Vogg Kiełtyka has an uncanny ability to write riffs that feel like getting hit by a train.
How many guitars do you own and what are your favorite models?
Seven or eight, but my favorite is a fanned fret / multiscale Ibanez seven string. I have a Lundgren M7 in the bridge and neck. It sounds like home, it feels like home. It’s from their iron label series. This guitar has really made me second guess the notion that I need a custom guitar with weird woods and a neck through design, etc etc. It’s a stock model with a bolt on neck… and I couldn’t be happier.
What do you think makes the perfect guitar and amp?
Perfect is wildly subjective, BUT FOR ME, the closest it gets would be the Ibanez I already own running through a Fryette Deliverance … probably. Another important thing to mention is that the right pedal before the amp is critical! Peper’s Pedals Dirty Tree in TC mode is *unbelievable*.
How do you feel about the question of modeler or tube amp?
There is a time and place for both. I’m a huge fan of modelers for touring, but I use a tube amp at home for recording. Amps are wonderful in a controlled environment where you can really dial it and feel sort of connected to it. But, if you’re trying to sound your best in a fifteen minute changeover, modelers are the way to go. At a live show, there are bigger problems than my opinions on the finer points of metal guitar tone.
Which guitars and amps were used on the new album or for recordings?
Scar Weaver guitars are all technically the demo! Everything you hear on the album is exactly what was recorded as it was written for the first time. I used a Revv Generator, the fanned Ibanez seven string with Lundgren M7s, and a modded Sick As pedal. Enrique of ‘Built by Enrique’ really knows his stuff when it comes to pedals. That sound made the record for me.
When you only can choose one guitar, which one will you take?
Fanned Ibby 7 🙂
https://oncehumanofficial.com/
