Alistair Franklin (rhythm guitar) and Ash (lead guitar, one name) of Australian punks All Hours told us about their love for their Mooer Preamp Live and Line 6 Helix...
Alistair Franklin: The one piece of gear I can’t live without is my Mooer Preamp Live. Back when I joined All Hours, I was using a JCM800. Great sounding amp. The only problem was that it’s way too loud for the small venues we were playing so I’d put the volume down and steal Ash’s tube screamer to get the right sound. I had this incredible amp that I could never use to its full potential. It weighed a tonne and I’m far too lazy to be carrying that amp, plus a cab, to every gig. I also hated how long it took to set up and pack up. Nobody wants to lose time from their set or delay the next band because they’re struggling with amps, cabs and cables.
Enter the Mooer Preamp Live. I fell in love with Mooer after buying some of their pedals, and when I decided to switch to amp modelling, it seemed like the obvious choice. I wanted something that sounded great and was easy to set up, something I could use for gigs, band practice and just playing around at home. This preamp modelling pedal does all of that incredibly well. The pedal holds 12 preamps and I think it comes with a library of 50 you can swap in and out, plus a tone capture function. I’m not sure because I only use two for my live setup (see above where I said I was lazy).
It’s great for practice — just plug in headphones and go. Great for playing around with new pedals that the band won’t let me use (my fuzz collection) and recording at home. Does it sound as good as a real tube amp? No. Can you really tell the difference in a small space? Also no. Setting up takes less than a minute: plug in guitar, power, connect to our mixer or direct to the PA. It makes things easy so I can focus on doing what I love, playing live.
It’s a fantastic piece of gear for someone like me who wants a consistent sound with maximum ease of use. The only thing missing is a tuner, but that’s ok because Ash is always right there on the other side of the stage and I’ll steal their tuner like I used to steal their tube screamer. Some things will never change.
Ash: Piece of gear I cannot live without: Line 6 Helix. With All Hours, it's been quite a curve with gear for all of us. We started with amps, cabs, pedalboards, lugging everything between shows and absolutely filling green rooms until we found something better. Having the Helix has been such a game changer for all of us. It started all of us switching to direct signals for a faster setup, having the versatility to cover all the sounds from everything we've recorded, add fun textures to older songs, inspire new songs with new sounds.
The Helix works so well for me especially because it's so user-friendly, unlike some other modellers. So easy to get an amazing sound, easy to dial in more depth if you choose to, can do a million-and-one different things to get all manner of sounds, but can also be simple.
All Hours' single "LET ME GO" is out now.
Photo by Alex Nelson/Emerge Creative
