LANCO’s Jared Hampton - GEAR MASTERS Ep. 563

Hey, what's up y'all? My name's Jared. I play banjo, keys, guitar in the band Lanco. We're on the We're Gonna Make It Tour. We just released a new album a couple weeks ago and our brand new single We Grew Up Together is now hitting the radio. And you guys are out here now with us. We're in Chicago, the beautiful Windy City at Rosemont Joe's Live. And we're set up, ready to go. We just got done with sound check and we're kind of ready to go. So let's go over some gear, man. All right. So I spend a lot of time playing keys during our set, even though I play a lot of other things. Pretty basic with the Nord, but I have it set up to where I cycle through a bunch of patches. And as great as the Nords are, I find myself needing a little bit more flexibility with pedals. So for instance, I've got the Lex down here, which is a pretty standard. Yeah, she's beat to hell. Look at that. But the Lex is the, like the rotary speaker, the Leslie. And so instead of using the internal one, I'm able to use that and then I can put effects before it. So for instance, the RV6 is, which is a fantastic reverb pedal. All the guitar players love it. I'm kind of a guitar player, but I love it. So the reverb is before, in line, is before the Leslie. So if you can think about it, the reverb is sending into the Leslie and the Leslie is throwing the tails of the reverb, which is something really, really cool. If you guys ever want to hear that, it's kind of magical because it's like, already a Leslie is cool, but when you can send those tails whirling, it's just a really, really cool piece. So there's certain parts in the set where that patch for the organ with the reverb tail, we do a jam session in Troublemaker, which is one of our songs. And it comes all the way down. We do the full song, you know, ripping, roaring. And then it comes down into this just like Steve Miller, like, I want to say blues, but it's honestly more rock jam. And it comes all the way down to a hi-hat and just these organ stabs. And so it's just like this, it's just this sonic wave of lightness. And then Brandon, our lead singer, rips on the guitar a little bit. And then Tim gets up and does an absolute, I won't even call it an opus, if you will. It's incredible. But that section in particular is one where it shines a lot in the set. And then I do a lot of other padding in between songs. I do like a keyboard vamp in between a couple songs just like on piano. And sometimes I'll kick the reverb on and volume pedal just because I'm an organ player to help kind of swell in and out. And then I've got just your standard sustain. And then this controls the rotary. So this controls the Leslie speed. And I have it set to momentary because I just forget about it. It's easier if I let go, I know it's slow. Some people do like where it stays fast or stays slow. I do it momentary so it doesn't ever get stuck fast, which is just like kind of funny. But that's kind of it for the Keys side. And this is something, this shell has been with us, man, it's been with us for a long time. I'd say probably eight years. And it's just been in the bottom of RVs, been in the back of sedans and SUVs and outrides in the bus or in the trailer. So moving along, I have an interesting setup on the other side of the pedal board, starting with the tuner, pretty standard tuner, compressor. I love these guys, the way huge guys. I love the conspiracy theories. They're like climb and take. It's a great overdrive. And then I run into the HX stomp and this is brand new for me. So for all of my career, I've been just at the end of this chain, splitting it out. A, B, A would be electric guitar, B would be banjo mandolin. So B would go to a DI and then A would go to an amp. Usually I would tour, like when we're flying and stuff, I'll backline like AC30s or something in that vein. And then when I used to bring amps out on the road, it was, I had a 5YA Bassman, which was sick. And then I had a Chieftain. I went through a bunch of different amps, an old Gibson, which was really cool. But now that we're flying a lot and I wear a little bit more hats in the band, it's been easier for me to find these presets. And for electric guitar, I'm using a bass amp. For the electric guitar, the Bassman on the Helix HX World. And then I can go, I have a Chieftain dialed up with like some more effects, like delay and reverb and stuff. So when I'm playing, it's usually on the Bassman and it's just kind of your standard rock tone, clean, dirty. And then if I want to add some spice, we can go to the Chieftain and add some delay and reverb, which is great. I love the versatility of these pedals because it's really solved a lot of my problems because the banjo and the mandolin do not, they don't have the same output level. They don't sound the same. And so it's so nice to be able to click through a preset and go, that's my banjo. I've got different EQs on it. I've got a different output on it. I've got different reverb on it. And then I go to mandolin and it's the same thing, different EQ curve, different compression, different effects. And that has solved so many problems for me because they're just so much, they're sonically such a different instrument. And I really am starting to like it. And I'll tell you what, man, they've come a long way with these profiles and these amp modulers because it sounds great. I wish I hated it more. And then this is our RF return so we can run wireless. And in case of an emergency, if the wireless goes out, I just rip this guy out and I'm on a cable. So that's kind of a fail safe. So going back to the stomp, like I said earlier, I used to route them A on an AB switcher. A was going to the amp and B was going to a DI. Now I use the flexibility of the stomp. My left output is my guitar signal, which is going DI. And then my right output is going to another DI, a separate DI. And then my keys are also going to a DI. So this is what you see, the four DIs are blue banjo, green guitar, and then keys left and right, which is awesome because it eliminates another pedal on my pedal board and another power solution and another cable, which anything to keep the clutter down and the efficiency up is worth it. And then moving along, we've got on this tour, I bring out different electrics just for fun because I don't play a ton of it. But I like switching it up. I usually rock like a Tele or something like that. But I decided to bring out my trusty old Sheridan. It's a 96 Cherry. And man, I just love this guitar. It stays in tune wonderfully. It sings. It does do the split pots. So I can split each, whoopsies, I can split each humbucker into a single coil. Honestly, they say it goes more single coil. To me, it sounds more of like a like a Gretschy thing, like a TV Jones or a D-Armin thing. But either way, it's really cool. I usually just leave it in the bridge humbucker and let it ride because I'm usually just complimenting what our guitar player is doing. And so that's kind of standard for me. And then my wife has bought, so my banjo strap here, I'll show you. Banjo strap and my guitar strap, they're made from the same company. Oh man, what's the company? Terrible branding, they don't have their label on it. But it's the same manufacturer and they find old blankets, old horse blankets, old ranch blankets, and they turn them into straps. And so none of them are the same. You'll never find this strap anywhere else. And then same with this one, you'll never see this strap. I mean, you'll see it as just whatever they had of it, right? So it's a limited run. I really love those, those are really cool. All right, so back with the Sheridan. Normally, I'm rocking the bridge pickup for the majority of my rhythm work. And then the tone, I leave it about eight or nine, somewhere in there, just taking a little bit off the top. And then volume wide open and humbucker, not split. And then strings are D'Addario 10s. I can't remember if it's the chromes or the regular, I think it's just the regular D'Addario 10s. And then for me, standard tuning. I really want to put a Bigsby on this guy, but it's so solid right now in tuning, I don't want to mess with it. If it was at my studio in the house all the time, I would probably put a Bigsby on it. But just the reliability of a stop tail, it just stays in tune, no matter how hard you hit it. I love that. Because by the time I'm getting on guitar, it's pretty hype songs. And so I get a little excited. So this banjo, I got, I want to say, in 2015 or 16, despite how it's a wash burn and it's dusty. And look, I mean, this is just patina to all get out. I think I'm getting my daily dose of iron through this. But it's really cool. I love how it's patina. I love that this is showing where, because honestly, it reminds me of where we've been and how far we've come. And this thing, this banjo in particular, some of these instruments haven't been on the road as much. But this banjo has been with us to Canada, to Mexico, to 46 states, to Europe, to Australia. And it's really cool that this same banjo also is on all of our records. And like, this is the one people are like, well, what are you using the studio? Or did you use that? And it's like, yeah, if the studio or the producer has cool stuff, we'll absolutely pick it up and check it out. But this one has just been, this one's been it. Internally, I have a t-shirt to dampen it even more just for live sake. It doesn't really affect it as much. It's a wood tone ring, not a brass or steel. So it's pretty mellow to begin with. But just live, everything's cranking, drums are going, PA's rocking, Tim's ripping on guitar. You got to kind of keep it down a little bit just for feedback purposes. And then we have the Fishman Rare Earth, I believe, pickup in there. And it's like, it's that square, you can kind of see it. It's pushed up against the membrane of the head. Elite head. And I'm not like a total banjo nerd, but these are the, I really like these heads and this bridge. And yeah, man, it's been through many iterations. This has been jacked up several times, but you just re-solder it and off you go. It's an active. Nice. Set up for a different song. Tuning is normally standard, but a fun tuning fact, banjo guys will know, these little railroad ties, so they can change your string. So this is set up for F sharp right here, G, G sharp, A, B, and then open would be F. And so wherever I go, if I play in D shape, if I play in G shape, if I capo play in A, I just adjust the railroad tie on this fifth string instead of having to tune it, which is pretty cool. Banjo players, man, resourceful dudes. The strings are also D'Addario and their loop end, as you can see down here, instead of having a ball, like a lot of guitar strings, you have a loop and it goes over a claw. And that's kind of where a lot of the string break happens because those get rusty from my sweat or from other humidity or salt or whatever. And that's kind of a lot. If it's going to break, that's usually where it breaks down in there because there's that tension where it's bent over. But either way, I mean, it's worked really well. Medium gauge. I don't know the numbers, but medium gauge. This mandolin is a functioning piece of garbage. It's a Gretsch. And so, I mean, it's built well, but it's just not like, you know, mandolin players, you want to talk about banjo players, mandolin players, they get crazy, man. Like, I've played, you know, $150,000, $200,000 mandolins and it's incredible. But we're on the road and, you know, I don't want to carry a mortgage in the back of a trailer. And honestly, this guy sounds great. Once again, the Fishman bridge pickup with the little clamp on, which obviously you can tell has not functioned and we just got to tape it all up and make it sit. And you can see there's all sorts of cracks and wear on it. And then also another thing, and normally, like, if you peel that back, it sounds kind of, that's kind of why those wires are in there also. But you can start to hear that when you start really ripping on it. So once again, just put tape over it and you never have any problems with any resonance or string sound or that weird sound back there. But yeah, Gretsch New Yorker. I got this as a Christmas gift when I was a kid, man. Maybe not a kid. I think I was in college. And my parents were like, well, you play a lot of stuff. What about the mandolin? And I was like, sure. And it's made its way, especially on this new record, it's made its way into a lot of songs and a lot of lead lines. We double the lead line for our single, We Grew Up Together on this guy. Once again, I know there's better mandolins, but this was the mandolin on the record. It's just what it is, man. I don't know, like, sure, I could have called Groon up and been, Grun, Groon, whatever, and been like, hey, man, can I borrow a mandolin for the studio? He would absolutely let me do that. But like, it works. And I also, in the studio, I should have went back to this. In the studio, I'll bring my studio board, which has got a bunch of more fun stuff on it. It's got, like, an old Digitech Space Station on it. It's got some other drive pedals and a different compressor. And then I have the HX effects on it, which is just the effects module. So this one's got the amps and the effects. The one on my studio board has just the effects, hence the HX effects. And, man, I run these, the mandolin and the banjo, direct line while also miking it. And then I'll put effects on the direct line and we can blend it in and out in the studio. And that's how some of those really unique tones get made, by having both signals and being able to affect them differently, which is just really cool. Like, being able to put delay and reverb on, you know, banjo and mandolin, it sounds funny, but it's really cool when you do, right mix and blend in place for it in song. Mandolin strings, once again, D'Addario. And these are actually heavy. These are heavy because I have bigger fingers and I noticed that the lighter the gauge on the mandolin, I was starting to get into that string bend where you push down too hard and bend a note out of tune. And with the heavier, with the heavy strings, I have no problem with like bending it out. And it seems to also, because also in our set, I'm doing a lot of like, not bluegrass chucking, but I'm really strumming on it. And it helps kind of tame the highs a little bit and have a little bit meatier sound to it, which fits perfectly because you don't want it to be, you know, harsh and ringing out. But D'Addario heavies on these guys. So these are our standard Dunlop, right, Tim? Dunlop, Tortex picks. These, we've kind of, we're going back and forth. We're actually in a pick dispute right now. So we've had this for forever. This has been our pick for years. And now that Tim's with us, he's suggested like, hey, why don't we find some different picks for everybody? And I found out that I like a weird pick. And I really like the Dorito is what they call it. It's like a big triangle and it's goofy. I think it's kind of not cool. I think it gets a bad rap. However, especially for mandolin, on guitar, these are fine. I'll do whatever. But on mandolin, being able to hold onto it and not be so heavy and forceful with it seems to be the trick. Because I do like the thickness. I don't like it to be too floppy. So these are probably one millimeter there. I mean, you can see I'm cranking on it and they're not giving a whole lot. Mainly because our bass player was the one who picked these out. I will throw him under the bus, but I've learned how to deal with it. And honestly, I don't play guitar. I play guitar for like three songs. And so I just kind of live with it. But Dunlop, Tortex, maybe we'll get the Dorito out soon. But that's what we're rocking on the picks. So, yeah, that's the gear. That's what we got rocking on this tour. We're going to make a tour. You can follow us on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, all the all the platforms, all the streaming platforms, Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon, all that stuff. And we just put out a new record a couple of weeks ago called We're Going to Make It. It's our sophomore record. Our first record was seven years ago and it's called Hallelujah Nights. And we had a wild ride off that. And it's taken us a bit of time to figure out how to say what we want to say. And this record is exactly where we are in life right now. And what we found out is exactly where some of our a lot of our fans are, which is just really cool to write what, you know, and then find that they also know that and are living that, which is just awesome. But yeah, website Lanco Music dot com. That is where you can find more tour dates and anything else. Our fan club is on there called Fanco. Yes, Fanco Lanco is on there. And hope to see you guys at a show. Please come say hey.