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 Thomas Carlsen (Thomas Carlsen’s Transmission).
When you start guitar playing and do you remember your first guitar?
I was actually a drummer way before I picked up guitar playing. I got my first guitar from my parents when I was around seven years old. It was a Behringer Stratocaster copy with a small amp, a beginner’s set. It wasn’t until around ten years ago (age 15) that I started trying to learn how to play guitar. I started looking at tabs online and learning the most simple tracks I could find (and liked). «The Final Frontier» by Iron Maiden was one of the first riffs I ever learned, just because of its simplicity. I had that Behringer guitar up until last year when I sold it to a coworker.
What are your influences and which guitar players are your faves?
As a kid, I was enthralled by Adrian Smith’s solo on the track «Stranger in a Strange Land». That’s gotta be my first real guitarist influence. Other guitarists I would watch were Glenn Tipton and K.K. Downing of Judas Priest, Michael Wilton and Chris DeGarmo of Queensryche, and especially Jake E. Lee of Ozzy Osbourne’s mid-80s band. His style has always fascinated me, and continues to do so.
How many guitars do you own and what are your favorite models?
Believe it or not – at age 25, I don’t own more than three or four guitars (and a bass guitar). I have several in my studio, but they don’t necessarily belong to me! My Dad is also a guitarist, so I’m always lending one of his. My favourite guitar right now would definitely be my Jackson SDX Adrian Smith signature. Other models I like are the King V and PRS Custom 24.
What do you think makes the perfect guitar and amp?
There’s not a lot to it for me; if it handles well and looks like something my guitar heroes would use, I’ll probably like it, too. I prefer a guitar where the string action is low, but not so low that you don’t even feel your fingers sweeping across the fretboard. I do love having a whammy bar for my leads. The perfect amp goes to 11 and gives me bucketloads of GAIN!
How do you feel about the question of modeler or tube amp?
Can you really replicate those crushing guitar tones of „Balls to the Wall“, „Screaming for Vengeance“ and „Powerslave“ on a modeler? Maybe not completely, but it is damn close. I embrace the new technology that has been made available for us guitarists that cannot afford, or have storage space for those expensive pre-amps and cabs!
Which guitars and amps were used on the new album or for recordings?
For „A Brave Horizon“, I used my trusty Jackson SDX Adrian Smith signature guitar for all rhythm and leads. The guitar tone is modeled digitally, based on a Mesa/Boogie Mark V pre-amp, which I absolutely love, and a Mesa 4×12 cab. Take all that and add a Chorus and Delay pedal, and you have my lead tone, as well. I actually spent a lot of time perfecting the guitar tones for the album, and I’m very pleased with the results.
When you only can choose one guitar, which one will you take?
That is a tough one. Maybe a Charvel Pro-Mod So-Cal in Jake E. Lee’s colours.
