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 Michał Wojtas (Amarok).
When you start guitar playing and do you remember your first guitar?
I started playing the guitar as a teenager. As far as I remember that was a classical nylon guitar, then it was an acoustic guitar. It took some time until I owned my first electric guitar.
What are your influences and which guitar players are your faves?
My first musical experience was related to the music of Jean Michele Jarre and pop stars like Michael Jackson and many other artists of the 80s. I started to love the guitar when I first time listened to the music of Mike Oldfield. It was Tubular Bells II in 1992. It changed my musical soul. At the same time, I started listening to Pink Floyd (A Momentary Lapse Of Reason, Delicate Sound of Thunder) and then finally I listened to The Division Bell and Pulse. Those releases have changed me for ages. Later I heard Roger Waters‘ album Amused To Death and that’s how I met my great inspiration – Jeff Beck. In the meantime, I fell in love with such recordings as Brothers In Arms or the sounds of Carlos Santana. Of course, many guitarists have always inspired me, but the most important ones for me are Oldfield, Gilmour, Beck, Knopfler and Santana.
How many guitars do you own and what are your favorite models?
I had many different instruments. Including several PRS guitars. I remember falling in love with Oldfield’s PRS watching the Tubular Bells concert in Edinburgh. Years later I had to have one. But first, I fell in love with the stratocaster. After all, Oldfield, Gilmour, Jeff Beck and Knopfler played such a guitar. Of course, I owned several models, including the Jeff Beck signature. I never loved Gibson guitars but this has changed. In the track Hero I used a Les Paul Custom Shop guitar. I currently only have one Paul Reed Smith guitar left. This is a unique instrument from the Custom 24 Brazilian Limited limited series from 2003. I also have a guitar designed for me by a small manufacturer from Poland – Furora Custom Guitars. The guitar looks like a telecaster but its electronics are typical of a stratocaster. The guitar is based on the Jeff Beck signature from Fender but has a number of original features created especially for me by its designer Daniel Płoszaj (https://www.facebook.com/furoraguitars).
What do you think makes the perfect guitar and amp?
I started with keyboards. I still love synthesizers, piano and stuff. However, the guitar gives me what I can call real, inexhaustible freedom. I never play the same. Each concert is a new improvisation for me. However, I think that what gives the best tone is not a matter of equipment but the fingers and emotions of the player. I love my PRS for letting me be myself. These guitars do not have such a characteristic timbre as, for example, the Fender Stratocaster, which can always be heard in the recording. However, thanks to this, you can shape your sound. It’s like modeling clay.
How do you feel about the question of modeler or tube amp?
I love tube guitar amps. I used to own a very good Fuchs Oberdeive Supreme amplifier with a Two-Rock cabinet. The whole thing sounded like Santana with John Mayer. However, for many years I dreamed about the amplifier that Mark Knopfler played on his first solo album – Golden Heart. There is Soldano Super Lead Overdrive SLO 100. Finally I was able to buy the original version. It is a loud 100 watt amplifier with a dedicated 4×12 cabinet. Excellent and my beloved amplifier. In my opinion, the best in the world. I used this amp at Amarok concerts in 2017-19. A recording of the concert has been preserved from this period, which in 2022 would be included as a bonus disc for the re-release of Amarok – Hunt. You can hear the great sound of this amplifier there. But then came the digital „classic“ – the Kemper Profiler. It is a device that „scans“ the sound and behavior of a real amplifier. Of course I still own and love my amp, but since 2019 I’ve only used the Kemper at gigs. The scene has changed over the years. More and more often, musicians play with headphones in their ears on so-called quiet stages, which increases work hygiene but also allows for better sound control for live sound engineers. I use „scanned“ profiles of my own Soldano amplifier. I talk more about it in this video: https://youtu.be/EYWmsVP3P1M.
Which guitars and amps were used on the new album or for recordings?
On the Hero album I used only one amplifier – the Soldano SLO100 with the Soldano SLO 4×12 cabinet. I used Kemper once in a solo for It’s Not The End. It was a working recording that I decided to keep because it had some cool powers. Guitars: PRS Custom 24 Brazilian, Furora Custom Guitars Leo, Gibson Les Paul Custom Shop (Hero – first solo), Taylor acoustic guitar.
When you only can choose one guitar, which one will you take?
If I had to pick just one guitar for a desert island, it would be my PRS. I can play anything on this guitar. I feel special with this guitar in my hand. I’m very used to it. This has been my #1 for 20 years.
