Rhett Shull and Zach Broyles combine their music and gear industry knowledge for this weekly podcast. Together they discuss news, talk gear, debunk myths, and much more.

On this episode of&nbsp;Dipped In Tone, Rhett and Zach chat with special guest Warren Haynes. The Gov’t Mule leader talks about the band’s latest,&nbsp;Peace… Like a River. This record of originals was recorded simultaneously with 2021’s&nbsp;Heavy Load Blues, in the same studio, using a completely different set of gear. “We setup all our normal Mule toys in the big room with the high ceiling, we setup a bunch of vintage gear, small amps, and old guitars … in the small room,” Haynes shares, as he details the differences in each rig and talks about his go-to blues rig, which includes vintage Gibson amps—“they were flying by the seat of their pants, a lot of it was experimental,” he says on why they’re some of his favorites—a Supro, Alessandro, and more, plus a slew of vintage guitars, including Danelectros and Gibsons. “The surprise factor was part of it,” Haynes says. In the course of talking amps, Haynes might have let the cat out of the bag about a special project.What does it take to be effective when sitting in? “A lot of times,” Haynes explains, “I’m just trying to find something that fits and stay out of everybody’s way.” Pragmatically, he later adds, “Really, the most important thing to remember is that the song’s gonna be fine without your part, so there’s no reason to feel like you have to do anything. When it comes time to solo, that’s a little bit of a different story.” He later reminisces about sitting in with Bob Dylan, and, during his time as a member of the Allmans, having Eric Clapton join the band onstage.Big thanks to Sweetwater for sponsoring this episode. Head to<a href=" http://sweetwater.com" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> http://sweetwater.com</a> for all your musical gear needs. Subscribe, like, and leave us a commentSign up on our mailing list: <a href="http://eepurl.com/iaCee5" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">http://eepurl.com/iaCee5</a>Support us on Patreon for access to our discord server and other perks!&nbsp;<a href="https://www.patreon.com/dippedintone" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.patreon.com/dippedintone</a>MERCH: <a href="https://teespring.com/stores/dipped-in-tone" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://teespring.com/stores/dipped-in-tone</a>Follow us on Instagram:&nbsp;<a href="https://instagram.com/dippedintone" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://instagram.com/dippedintone</a>&nbsp;Dipped in Tone is:Rhett Shull&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="https://www.rhettshull.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.rhettshull.com/</a>Zach Broyles / Mythos Pedals&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="https://mythospedals.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://mythospedals.com</a>Premier Guitar&nbsp;<a href="https://www.premierguitar.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.premierguitar.com/</a>

Dipped In Tone

Warren Haynes on the Art of the Sit-In

This episode starts off with Zach and Rhett catching each other up on their 4th of July festivities. Rhett’s was classic: he treated some visiting European friends to fireworks off a dock, barbecue, smoked wings, more fireworks, and a bunch of beer. Zach, meanwhile, was knocking on doors to tell neighbors to knock off the mortar shelling in the middle of the night. To each their own.Then they’re joined by Nathaniel Murphy, the Chicago-based guitarist who has racked up nearly 400,000 followers on Instagram with jaw-dropping videos of solo guitar work. Rhett doesn’t mince words—he says Murphy is “one of the best players out there.” Murphy’s videos break people’s brains, they say: no one can work out how he’s playing all the parts by himself at the same time. Plus, Murphy works full-time now with Chicago Music Exchange, where he brushed shoulders with Noel Gallagher and Carlos Santana within a few days of one another this summer.Murphy shares how he came to the U.S. to coach soccer for nearly a decade before being hired to do video demos for CME. He was busking downtown Chicago, too, and within a few years, CME brought him on full-time to cut videos. When it came time to join Instagram, he registered with his infamous handle, @ZeppelinBarnatra. Murphy breaks down how the moniker came to be when he entered a contest to win tickets to Led Zeppelin’s 2007 reunion concert.Murphy names his favorite all-time guitar—Noel Gallagher’s Gibson J-150, which Gallagher recently signed for him—before the crew reflects on how to behave when meeting your guitar heroes. That leads to a discussion of U2’s The Edge, whom Rhett and Murphy defend from detractors. They also agree that Teles are the most versatile guitars out there, but Zach, ever the contrarian, dissents: “To me, there’s a reason why all the dudes that played Teles back in the day switched to Les Pauls,” he shrugs. Murphy talks about his current favorite players, like Justin Derrico, Stephen Taranto, and Michael Romeo, then the trio dissect different picking techniques and go long on Blue Chip pick manufacturing processes.Rhett, who groans that he has the touch of a blacksmith when it comes to guitar playing, praises Murphy’s sensitive playing. But even Murphy, with his prodigious playing, says he gets overwhelmed watching other players’ styles. In guitar playing, as in life, the grass is always greener.Big thanks to StewMac for sponsoring this episode. Head to <a href="http://stewmac.com/dippedintone" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">http://stewmac.com/dippedintone</a> to get 10% off! Subscribe, like, and leave us a commentSign up on our mailing list: <a href="http://eepurl.com/iaCee5" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">http://eepurl.com/iaCee5</a>Support us on Patreon for access to our discord server and other perks!&nbsp;<a href="https://www.patreon.com/dippedintone" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.patreon.com/dippedintone</a>MERCH: <a href="https://teespring.com/stores/dipped-in-tone" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://teespring.com/stores/dipped-in-tone</a>Follow us on Instagram:&nbsp;<a href="https://instagram.com/dippedintone" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://instagram.com/dippedintone</a>&nbsp;Dipped in Tone is:Rhett Shull&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="https://www.rhettshull.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.rhettshull.com/</a>Zach Broyles / Mythos Pedals&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="https://mythospedals.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://mythospedals.com</a>Premier Guitar&nbsp;<a href="https://www.premierguitar.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.premierguitar.com/</a>

Always Meet Your Heroes with Nathaniel Murphy

After Rhett shares his childhood trauma of riding an immersive horror coaster at Tomorrowland and Zach recovers from the emotional experience of viewing the Millennium Falcon in person on a family vacation, Texas-born guitarist Eric Johnson joins them for a revelatory discussion on tone, gear, and the never-ending hunt for creative inspiration.Rhett starts by noting that Johnson’s DNA isn’t just in his playing and composition, but his sound, too. How does one sculpt a signature tone? “It starts with your intention and your design of your vision,” Johnson starts. He says that when he was young, he learned that there was great guitar playing to be found in nearly every style of music, and calls his sound a “hodge-podge” of all the styles he loved, name-checking the Beatles, the Yardbirds, Jimi Hendrix, and Wes Montgomery as stylistic signposts.Rhett and Zack wonder how important Johnson’s rig is to him nowadays. He’s a classic man—a Stratocaster into an old Marshall is his little slice of paradise—but he warns young guitarists from focusing too much on the sizzle and forgetting about the steak. “I always say to anybody chasing [gear], ‘Don’t go so deep in the rabbit hole that you just analyze too much,’” he says. “It’s part of the thing, but it’s not the main thing.” Plus, Johnson hints that he finds inspiration in instruments’ oddities—and even their defects.Johnson reveals that he’s experimenting with a Neural DSP, but the new tech might be too polished for his liking. He explains that when he tried designing a signature Fuzz Face with Dunlop, he only got close once they swapped out the high-quality wiring and pots for older, degraded materials. “It’s just a mystery,” he grins.Ultimately, Johnson says it doesn’t matter what tool artists use, they have to learn to “negotiate the medium.” Whether it’s a particular amplifier’s quirks or “the horse hairs on the paintbrush,” Johnson says it’s up to the individual to make something special with what they’ve got.Big thanks to StewMac for sponsoring this episode. Head to <a href="http://stewmac.com/dippedintone " rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">http://stewmac.com/dippedintone </a>to get 10% off! Subscribe, like, and leave us a comment Sign up on our mailing list: <a href="http://eepurl.com/iaCee5" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">http://eepurl.com/iaCee5</a>Support us on Patreon for access to our discord server and other perks! <a href="https://www.patreon.com/dippedintone" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.patreon.com/dippedintone</a>MERCH: <a href="https://teespring.com/stores/dipped-in-tone" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://teespring.com/stores/dipped-in-tone</a>Follow us on Instagram: <a href="https://instagram.com/dippedintone" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://instagram.com/dippedintone</a>Dipped in Tone is:Rhett Shull <a href="https://www.rhettshull.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.rhettshull.com/</a>Zach Broyles / Mythos Pedals <a href="https://mythospedals.com" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://mythospedals.com</a>Premier Guitar <a href="https://www.premierguitar.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.premierguitar.com/</a>

Eric Johnson Shares How To Find Your Sound

On this episode, Rhett and Zach discuss the relationship that they each have with the guitar at this point in their careers. Making a living doing the thing you love is great—in fact, it’s something that so many players aspire to. But it changes the relationship between player and instrument when the instrument is a source of work. How do they stay excited about their work? And how do they get excited when they’re in a lull? What keeps their creativity flowing? These are big questions, but our hosts are both having their own renaissances with their guitars. And—surprise!—it’s because they’ve both come into some new key pieces of gear.Zach reports that he has been rippin’ totally sweet Metallica licks on his sick new ESP LTD Kirk Hammett Signature Series KH-602. He’s a longtime fan of the band—and has conveniently fallen back in love with&nbsp;Kill ’Em All&nbsp;and&nbsp;Ride the Lightning—and says he’s wanted a Hammett signature guitar for his entire guitar-playing life. When he saw this one at Nashville’s Guitars To Be Played, he fell in love with everything, from the skull and crossbones fret markers to the Floyd Rose. And you know what? The Floyd Rose isn’t hard to set up. This guitar, Zach says, is kickstarting his “love of the guitar again.”Meanwhile, Rhett has been enjoying his new Soldano SLO-100 head and matching 4x12 cabinet, even if he does keep the cab a few flights below his control room. He’s stoked about the story of Soldano, who he admires for being one of the early boutique amp builders, and has been playing this new 100-watter all week.When it’s time to dip a rig, it’s hard to find any faults. No spoilers, but it’s a nice one (and an easy gig load).And in the shill zone, Zach talks about the importance of running a brown box for owners of older amps and talks briefly about the difference between the Brown Box and a Variac.Subscribe, like, and leave us a commentSign up on our mailing list: <a href="http://eepurl.com/iaCee5" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">http://eepurl.com/iaCee5</a>Support us on Patreon for access to our discord server and other perks!&nbsp;<a href="https://www.patreon.com/dippedintone" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.patreon.com/dippedintone</a>MERCH: <a href="https://teespring.com/stores/dipped-in-tone" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://teespring.com/stores/dipped-in-tone</a>Follow us on Instagram:&nbsp;<a href="https://instagram.com/dippedintone" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://instagram.com/dippedintone</a>&nbsp;Dipped in Tone is:Rhett Shull&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="https://www.rhettshull.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.rhettshull.com/</a>Zach Broyles / Mythos Pedals&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="https://mythospedals.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://mythospedals.com</a>Premier Guitar&nbsp;<a href="https://www.premierguitar.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.premierguitar.com/</a>

Dipped in Tone

Dipped In Tone by Dipped in Tone

Episodes