"Graduate Class" Guitar World, November 1998 "It's rock with contradictions," laughs guitarist Kevin Cadogan as he attempts t o describe Third Eye Blind's eclectic songwriting style. "I've always been into music that's aggressive or melancholic, so the parts I play may start off being moody and introspective, but eventually become energetic or even angry," he stat es. "We write to express the moods we're in and our influences are also reflecte d in what we do." However you decide to label 3EB's diverse music, one thing is certain: it's incr edibly popular. The band's self-titled debut album has spent well over a year on the Billboard Top 100 chart and, in so doing, has sold in excess of a million c opies and spawned several hit singles. Third Eye Blind's success has also led to their touring with the Rolling Stones and U2. The latter stint was particularly meaningful to Kevin, as U2 guitarist The Edge is one of his biggest influences. "It was amazing, almost surreal," he recalls. "U2 even invited us on their jet to fly to a gig in San Antonio. To say goodbye to them and the Rolling Stones wa s a tough thing to do. They're both hard to give up...kinda like crack!" [laughs ] TONAL LANDSCAPING "Kevin tends to form a landscape with his playing," states 3EB's charismatic fro nt-man, Stephan Jenkins. To maximize his tonal terrain on Third Eye Blind, Cadog an experimented with a large number of guitar and amp combinations in the studio and often layered several different parts. "On 'The Background' there are at le ast 16 tracks of guitar!" he exclaims. One of his favorite landscaping tools is an old Gibson RD Artist. "I love that guitar," says Kevin. "It's one I'll probab ly use a lot for recording in the future. It's a hard instrument to work with li ve, though, because it's so tonally extreme but it's great for doubling a part i n the studio. I did a lot of tracks on the album with [Music Man] Sabre guitars, which have really fat and bass-heavy tone. Adding the RD on top for certain par ts really made things stand out, because it's so shrill and sparkly sounding." Third Eye Blind's breakthrough hit single, "Semi-Charmed Life," is a good exampl e of the band's creative tonal coloring in the studio. The thick, multi-layered guitar textures were crafted with the help of an Epiphone Casino, a 12-string Ha mer electric, a Gibson J-200 acoustic and a Gretsch Country Gentleman. The assor tment of amps on this song is equally diverse: a Matchless 30 into a Mesa/Boogie 4x12 cabinet, a Mesa/Boogie Heartbreaker head, a Vox AC30 and a '69 Marshall pl exi Super Lead head into a Marshall 4x12 loaded with 25-watt Greenback speakers. Reverb, wah-wah, tremolo and flange are also employed tastefully in places to a dd extra texture and sonic diversity. LESS IS MORE "My effects set-up is fairly simple and streamlined compared to what some player s, like The Edge, use," says Kevin. "Right now, all I'm using is a Morley switch less Wah, a Dunlop Rotovibe and two Boss GX-700 rack unites that give me a littl e bit of compression, a touch of delay and a little splash of reverb on certain things." He recalls, "I went through a phase when I went totally overboard on ef fects and my creativity suffered as a result. I was spending all my time trying to find the best-sounding patch out of the 300 choices I had in my rack...basica lly, I'd stopped being a musician and had become an engineer! [laughs] At some p oint you have to switch the effects off and concentrate on coming up with cool-s ounding chord sequences and voicings that will serve as good platforms for your singer to construct melodies on." ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Kevin Cadogan's "setup" for the song "Darkness" (guitar overdub) in tuning F#-AC#-F#-G#-E: MJ Engineering Mirage Guitar > Boss CS-3 > Digitech Whammy > Morley Wah > Dunlop Rotovibe > Z. Vex Seek-Wah > Z Vex Octane > Voodoo Lab Proctavio > Voodoo Lab A nalog Chorus > Z. Vex Woolly Mammoth > Z. Vex Machine > MXR Dyna Comp > MXR Micr o Amp > to Mesa/Boogie Heartbreaker Combo. Kevin Cadogan's "setup" for the song "Wounded" (lead guitar): MJ Engineering Mirage Guitar > Budda Phatman Zen > Voodoo Lab Micro Vibe > Morle y Wah Kevin Cadogan's "setup" for the song "Camouflage" (crazy UFO overdub): Danelectro 12-String Guitar > Morley Wah > Dunlop Uni-vibe > Z. Vex Fuzz Factory > MXR Phase 100 > Z. Vex Seek Wah > MXR Dyna Comp > to 4 Separate Amps (Maveric k 4X10 Combo, Vox AC30, Magnatone M15 Amp through a Mesa Boogie 2 X 12, Marshall 2 X 12 Combo)For some pedals it has Kevin's settings on them for that song: Boss CS-3 ("Darkness"): Level -10 O'Clock, Tone - 10:30, Attack - 11:00, Sustain - 1 o'clock MXR Micro Amp ("Darkness"): Gain - 4:30 Budda Phatman Zen ("Wounded"): Gain - 2:20 Bass - 12:00 Treble - 2:20 Volume - 1 2:45 Voodoo Labs Micro Vibe ("Wounded"): Intensity - 2:00 Speed - 1:00 Z. Vex Fuzz Factory ("Camouflage"): Volume - 4:10 Gate - 7:30 Comp - 10:50 Drive - 7 Stab - 7 MXR Phase 100 ("Camouflage"): Intensity - 8 Speed - 10 MXR Dyna Comp ("Camouflage"): Output -12 Sensitivity - 1And here's the info mentioned in the article itself (First part is Kevin Cadogan 's gear): Amps used on the "Blue" album: Two Mesa/Boogie Maverick 4x10s, a Vox AC30, and an old '72 Marshall 4x10 combo. On the last record, I used a lot of amps with 6L6 tubes, but this time I wanted to get into EL84s for more of a midrange growl. (Note by AcquiredTaste: Even tho ugh he says these are the only 4 amps, in the settings image above or as I typed out above it clearly says he also used a Mesa/Boogie Heartbreaker and a Magnato ne M15 amp) He also states that the four amps mentioned above are the same ones he used live for this album's tour, and that he prefers open-back 4 x 10s as cabs.When asked about what pedals he uses most, he mentions: Morley or Dunlop wah Dunlop Rotovibe Voodoo Lab Micro Vibe Voodoo Lab Proctavia Budda Phatman Zen Boss Delay Lexicon MPX G2 Z. Vex Seek Wah (cites "1000 Julys" as a good example of what the Seek Wah does) When asked about distortion he mentions: Budda Phatman Zen Z. Vex Fuzz Factory and cranking the clean channel on his Mesa Mavericks (using a THD Hot Plate Atte nuator) What Guitars he uses: MJ Engineering Mirage archtops equipped with sustainer pickups PRS McCarty Archtop Gibson ES-125 Gibson ES-335 Gretsch Country Gentleman Guild Starfire '54 Gibson Les Paul Goldtop Danelectro 12-StringHere's what they have for Stephan Jenkins (although if you see them live you'll realize he's not much of a guitarist and much more of a singer/songwriter): Acoustic guitars he used on "Blue": Martin D-45 Gibson J-200 (Stephan's Note: We usually recorded the J-200 facing a wood wall b ecause that added a nice, warm slap to the tone) Electric Guitars used on "Blue": Custom Stephan Jenkins model PRS (based on the McCarty, but with only 1 pickup, no volume or tone control, just an on/off switch) '56 Gibson Goldtop Les Paul (his main electric on the album) '59 RI Gibson Sunburst Les Paul (he says he uses "now", which I would take mean he didnt use on the album, but for touring) Gibson Explorer with Seymour Duncan Antiquity pickups Gibson ES-335 Hamer Acoustic-electric Rickenbacker 12-string Amps he's using on tour:(2) Mesa/Boogie Triaxis preamps (One of the preamps is run dry, and the other pr eamp is routed to a Lexicon MPX G2) (2) Mesa/Boogie 4x10 cabs (running in stereo) Note about his gear on "Ten Day's Late": '56 Gibson Les Paul into a '73 Marshall 100-watt head and a Mesa 4x12 cabinet, c lose-miked with a Shure SM57 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------