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 Nikolo Kotzev (Kikimora ,Brazen Abbot).
When did you start playing the guitar and do you remember your first guitar?
I must have been around ten or eleven, when I first started playing. At first it was an acoustic guitar, which my mom was playing. She was a kindergarten music teacher. She showed me the basic chords and after that I started figuring out the rest by myself. At the age of five I started taking violin lessons, so I already had the musical culture needed for learning the guitar by myself. My first electric was given to me by my dad – it was a second hand Orpheus – a Bulgarian guitar, very old fashion and with a questionable quality. But it was pluggable in our home valve radio and that was all that mattered to me, cause it sounded distorted and quite authentic, just as a turned all the way up guitar amp.
What are your influences and which guitar players are your faves?
Immediately after moving to a town, where I studied in the music school, I discovered Deep Purple. During these times (1975) that kind of music was banned from Bulgarian radio, so we could only hear it on foreign radio stations. The Bulgarian government was jamming the frequencies, so it was not easy. Sometimes we could find and listen to Radio Luxembourg and Free Europe, which was quite a happening. Some TIR drivers were passing through Yugoslavia and used to bring vinyl records. Deep Purple and Ritchie Blackmore became my heroes. However, aspiring to become a professional musician, I had a very broad spectrum of tastes, so I also started liking Al Di Meola, John Mc Laughlin, Paco De Lucia. I liked and even played some of Chick Corea’s tunes, Return To Forever, Stanley Clarke, Bills Cobham, Jan Hammer etc. etc. So my influences are many, but speaking of rock, it must be Ritchie Blackmore. Interesting enough, I tried sounding like him in the beginning, but it was quite impossible, due to the fact, that I was already 25 years old when I bought my first Stratocaster and 35 when I got my first Marshall. After a few years I stopped trying to copy him, but to this day people think I sound like him. I think it is very strange, cause I don’t sound or play anything like him nowadays. I like many players – Ritchie Kotzen, Bumblefoot, Malmsteen, Guthrie Govan, and many more.
How many guitars do you own and what are your favourite models?
I think I own around 15 guitars, both electric and acoustic. A long time ago I did spend some time trying to find out which scale is better for me – Fender or Gibson. I still haven’t figured it out to this day. My fingers are not long and not thin either. That makes problems when playing Fender scale up to the 4th fret and playing Gibson above the 14th fret. I’ve had Strats and Les Pauls, but I keep selling them after a few years, after realizing they just hang on the walls for years and never get played. After a while I can’t resist and I buy a Strat or a Les Paul again, and so the story repeats… Framus made me three instruments, which were Custom Shop. Still not perfect for me, but it was cool the have instruments built to my specs. At the moment I play a KD – it is a Bulgarian luthier, called Kostadin Dimitrov. He works just some 20 mins from me and is a fantastic guitar and bass builder. He made two instruments for me – one is with a Strat scale (The Invader), the other one (The Wiseman) – with a PRS scale. I play mostly the Invader, it’s a hell of an instrument. My Acoustics include a Godin Dual Sustainiac, an Epiphone Chet Atkins SST, a 12 and a 6 string Stereo Yamaha APX, a proper acoustic Martin and a few more.
What do you think makes the perfect guitar and amp?
I wish I knew :-). I am still searching for the ultimate amp. I am searching for an amp that will allow me to have a sweet crunchy rhythm only by turning down the volume knob. I need a supportive lead sound, which will allow me to play fast and precise without having to press too much. I need a silent lead channel with a tamed sustain and creamy character. I am still trying whatever I can from the thousands of new amps the industry is throwing at us…. Still, I believe in a working combination, rather than a thousands of gadgets in my feet. I spent decades playing with a volume pedal, but I wised up and realised how wrong this was. Now I am relying on two channels with proper setting on their volumes and distortions. Sometimes it works well, sometimes it doesn’t.
How do you feel about the question of modeller or tube amp?
Instinctively I would go for a good tube amp, which is working for me. The modellers are having some frighteningly good sounds though…I used a modelling plugin for the demos of the „For A Broken Dime“ record. When time came to record the proper guitar tracks, I lined up five great amps and started testing and looking for the proper sound. Well, at the end of the day I found, that I was so stuck with the sound of the demo, so I used the modelling plugin for the record. These things work, but I wouldn’t play one of them live. I just need a fire-breathing amp, period.
Which guitars and amps were used on the new album or for recordings?
I used the KD Invader, tuned in C# Standard. For one song (Hit And Run) I am using a Framus, tuned down to B Standard. That’s pretty much it. I may have used an Eb Standard too, on my trusty Ibanez FP 777, depending on the songs. The amp is all a modelling plugin.
When you only can choose one guitar, which one will you take?
It would definitely be my KD Invader
