Peter Frampton recently released his new covers album, “All Blues”, co-produced and engineered by multiple Grammy-winner Chuck Ainlay, who is also a co-founder of the METAlliance (Music Engineering and Technical Alliance). Frampton is currently supporting the new album (which spent its first 6 weeks at #1 on the Billboard Blues chart) on his “Farewell Tour,” which concludes October 12 in Concord, California.
Prior to launching the tour, Frampton and Ainlay tested numerous guitar cables at Studio Phenix in Nashville. “He won’t use a wireless setup on stage for his guitar because the technology hasn’t yet lived up to his demand for the best sound possible,” explains Ainlay. “His road gear is pretty massive, with two Leslies and three Marshalls and combo amps. He had cables custom made for everything, by choosing the cable that actually sounded the best. The one thing that I found with the guitar cable he was using was that you could hear noise when moving around. We just decided to try a whole bunch of new cables and see what sounded best.”
The new 10-track LP, credited to the Peter Frampton Band, features guitarist Adam Lester, keyboardist-guitarist Rob Arthur and drummer Dan Wojciechowski, with guest spots from the Fabulous Thunderbirds’ harp player Kim Wilson and guitarists Larry Carlton, Sonny Landreth and Steve Morse (Dixie Dregs, Deep Purple).
“We tested guitar cables using his combo amp and his famous black 1954 Les Paul, called Phenix. We plugged straight into the guitar amp and the difference was astonishing. I’ve heard mic and speaker cable differences, but I never realized the amount of difference you’d have from a guitar cable. The Sommer cable is super durable and it sounds great. Very quiet, with no noise that I could perceive of at all.”
Ainlay describes the rugged life of a guitar cable on the road, “You have to be able to wind up the cable quickly, because it’s being taken out to the guitar player’s station and then pulled back in with change of guitars throughout the night. Taking all that into consideration, but particularly the sonics, the Sommer cable was the one that we chose. The cable itself is very manageable and it coils up easily. The FOH engineers are loving it and have commented several times about the lack of noise. Peter bought six cables just to make sure, in case they had any failure, and they haven’t had one.”
Learn more about Sommer SC-Spirit LLX NOISEFREE guitar cable:
https://tinyurl.com/y4n7sddy
1-foot samples of Sommer cable are available upon request.
ABOUT SOMMER CABLE
Sommer Cable Germany is a foremost development and manufacturing company of innovative and unique cable, connector and electronic products for the Studio, A/V Installation, Live Sound, Broadcast, Video, Music, IT and HiFi markets, with business partners in over 50 countries. In 2015, Sommer Cable America, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Sommer Cable Germany, was established in Santa Rosa, CA by CEO Martin Ucik. The new company supplies the North American markets with Sommer’s wide range of innovative and high quality products. 707.200.4020 http://sommercable.com/en
