BUZZ

"My brain is programmed to write doomful music, " says Jucifer's G. Amber Valentine.

Listening to Jucifer's debut album, Calling All Cars on the Vegas Strip (Capricorn)
you're immediately bowled over by the sheer weight of the sound. The fact that Jucifer
is a guitar and drum duo makes this all the more amazing.

"We tried a bass player once, but because I had my sound worked out to compensate for the lack of low-end, suddenly there was way too much bass," says guitarist G. Amber Valentine.

"This format streamlines everything - including our songwriting. Adding another person to the mix would just clutter the process."

Valentine's mammoth tone is concocted via an elaborate multi-amp/cabinet set-up. "My best friend is my Ampeg SVT cabinet," she proclaims. "I run a Fender bass head through the Ampeg for my low end, an Acoustic Model 450 head through a Marshall 4x12 for mids, and a Fender Twin Reverb that has been cut down to a head through a Peavey 2x15 cabinet for treble frequencies." Her only effect is a Boss DS-1 distortion.

For Calling All Cars on the Vegas Strip, Valentine individually miked each cabinet of her live setup, and overdubbed a clean guitar track to add definition. She used a Vintage Les Paul copy ("It plays better than any Les Paul I've ever found") for the album sessions, but recently opted for a
Dean ML Standard.

Although her gear has a lot to do with Jucifer's humongous sound, Valentine says that equipment isn't everything. "Attitude has a lot to do with being heavy," she says. "I'm extremely passionate about what I do, and with the right attitude, you can even sound heavy when playing an acousti guitar."
-Darrin Fox

March 2000 - Guitar Player