Aspen Pittman: Behind the Gear with Groove Tubes

BY GARRETT HAINES

The name Aspen Pittman is synonymous with vacuum tubes. But it's one thing to hawk a product, and another to understand the physics behind its performance. While working as a salesman in the first Guitar Center store, Pittman noticed that players (and techs) didn't really know why there were wide sonic differences between identical tube amps. He suspected the tubes, but there was little known then about matching power tube pairs or selecting prime preamp tubes for replacement. His curiosity eventually led to inventing a whole new standard for matching guitar amp tubes — one that works. Today, you'll hardly find a professional guitarist who doesn't have a set of Groove Tubes in his amp. Likewise, Pittman's Groove Tube uniquely designed pro audio products are found in world-class facilities around the globe. We caught up with Aspen Pittman at this year's TapeOpCon. We wanted to know about a little more behind the gear...

Luis Lahav: Dispatch from Israel...

BY ELDAD GUETTA

The interview with Luis Lahav was scheduled for a Wednesday evening. I arrived at his home studio in Herzliya, north of Tel Aviv and got my laptop ready to record. I was just about to ask some questions when he asked me to have a listen to a couple of songs from a young artist he's currently working with. It was 8 pm... six hours later he was still showing me production alternatives, describing his latest piano recording technique and even asking me to lay down some Wurlitzer parts! This is a perfect example of Luis' passion. With his name on so many records considered Israeli classics, he still has the energy of a kid who just got his first 4-track recorder, doing his first gig. In his case, it has been more than thirty-five years since he actually did that first gig, and the artist was none other than The Boss himself, Bruce Springsteen. So I had to come back another day. Luckily this time, his DAW was being maintained and he had no other choice but to sit down for a chat!

Steve Evetts

BY JESSE CANNON

The Blow: On collaboration...

BY ALEX KOSTELNIK, RACHEL NEDERVELA

The Blow is the power of cocaine, sex and fistfights delivered by the gentle exhale from a mouth onto your skin. A blow can be hard, as in a punch to the gut, or soft like the breath of your lover. Khaela Maricich and Jona Bechtolt's whole damn world is "Invisible Ink" multilevel meaning. They tell stories about crushes, desire and heartbreak in such an original way that you are forced to realize you've been listening in a desert- you needed them. You just didn't know it yet. The music sounds like dance music, or electro-pop delivered by people who had something different to say. The shows are a performance, but still solid and musical. Their new album, Paper Television, is out on K Records.