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Hi, we're here in Los Angeles with Sergio Sancho.
Well, let's talk a little bit about the equipment he uses.
And also about his album "Smoke"...
...which he came to release here in Los Angeles.
What's your expectation? How do you feel?
Well, the truth is that it's a great experience to...
...present and distribute my album in the US and in Los Angeles.
Imagine that! It's a great opportunity, and...
- In Good Company. - Absolutely.In great company
Well,tell me about the pedals you used for this record.
Basically, my sound has been based on the Xotic pedals.
EP Booster, RC Booster, BB Preamp and AC Booster.
I've also used the Bogner Duende amplifier.
And the Little Brute Drive.
This pedal is the new EWS.
The EWS is made in Japan and these others are made in LA.
The Little Brute Drive is a machine to break amps.
It does the trick very well.
Anyway, play a little for us, so we can check it out.
As you can hear, the sound is robust.
Not too dirty, kind of clean and defined.
With the kind of gain you need.
Let alone its super compact size. Small and effective.
Yeah, it fits in any pedal board.
Basically what else do you use?
BB Preamp is a trademark of my sound.
It's super versatile. The dynamic range is impressive.
For example, here, I have the controls at 11h00.
I always get this extra gain.
You can get the extra gain, without losing the essence.
It's extremely dynamic.
Absolutely, you can finger pick...
The response to volume decrease is efficient.
- It responds and adjusts to your style. - To my dynamics.
So the neck is XS Xotic rosewood 3...
The braces are made by them too.
Raw Vintage saddles, made in Japan.
And also Raw Vintage Springs.
This guitar has an incredible tone and pitch.
Yeah, perfect.
It's perfect.
Great. AC Booster can be used for more open sound too.
A little lower...
It opens the sound spectrum well.
It goes very well with Humbuckers.
What impresses is the Bass control.
EQ pedal you can customize, and then play with it.
Exactly.
Hear this low range.
And the power too!
As you can see, I got a flat EQ on the amp...
...so I can actually boost with the pedal and play with it.
To get it open... If I reduce the gain, I get...
It's like a tube amp pedal that gives a very dynamic sound.
Totally.
And sometimes you hear people saying...
...that a transistor pedal valve sounds hot.
"In the Heat of the valve."
And also for people who like Ibanez Tube Screamer sound.
I like the melodic sound.
You can clone with the BB Preamp...
...TS9, TS10, OD808 or any Fulltone OCD up.
The good thing I see in this pedal is...
BB Preamp is a little more compressed than the AC.
If you lower the treble and the low control...
- the resulting sound is typical... - Nasal sound.
Now you do the low and a little bit of high.
It's a different sound.
Yeah, it's like another pedal.
It's a whole different story.
Other advantage of BB Preamp for bass is the distortion.
Normally, distortion pedals for bass don't have good medium range.
While the BB Preamp has this heavy low range, plus distortion.
It's incredible.
The sound reverberates, giving you a full body sound.
Another plus with Xotic pedals is the chance to combine.
It's one of the few pedals that can be combined and sound great.
The multiple combos and you get the versatility.
Let's check this one.
Hear the purity of sound. Almost like 3D sound experience.
- It's like another amp. - It's a gate opener.
One of the latest inventions of Xotic is the EP Booster.
You just spoke English. You should conduct this in English
I spent too much time in LA. I probably got better in English.
The EP is the previous booster Old EcoPlex...
...with a little bit more of texture, as you can notice.
Totally. I will slowly add gain to see...
It becomes another guitar, another sound.
It still has the purity ... the RC is more "Hi Fi".
And now, as we spoke before, combining powerful RC and BB.
It's important to highlight that we're playing with...
...Single Coil Humbucker which has more powerful sound.
Now the AC. Let's check it out. This combination with AC.
Now I have three pedals connected.
They're machos. Real machos.
For bass guitar, we also have Mid Bass control...
...which is similar to EP Booster, plus RC and the 9, that are killers.
For instance, this 5 string bass here in my hand...
...it's a 10 unit worldwide limited edition.
This is the only one in Spain.
This one has the active, previous Trilogic imbedded.
A plus for any situation that requires an amp.
It also comes with low, treble and high controls.
You can switch from active to passive.
In reality, this is a state of the art bass.
We thank the whole team and the Xotic family.
"Thanks to all the people here."
Now, let's talk about your album.
Here, we present Sergio's album, "Smoke".
So, tell us a little bit about the recording process.
Basically, the album was recorded live.
Especially the trio, drums, bass and guitar...
...all in the same room.
We had the amps next to the drum set...
...so we could have the sound captured by the mics.
We had absolutely no cut or paste of any kind.
- The old-school approach. - Absolutely. No paste.
There were 2 days of recordings and the mood and energy of...
...those 2 days were captured in essence of the record, nothing else.
Here we present the album to the world.
We're all delighted because it's amazing that people here...
...in US are fascinated with your work.
It's all part of the magic blend in your music of...
American roots as you call it, with a little Spanish flavor.
It's a whole "Fiesta", right? No "Siesta".
Right, always a fiesta.
And which musicians have collaborated with you?
Jose Mena, drums. He played drums in all of the records.
On the bass, Arturo Ruiz...
Carlos Sanchez de Medina and Salva Lopez.
My partner, Salva Lopez! My first band "Monkey Business".
Lopez also recorded the keyboards for me.
And I was in charge of the guitars, playing Dobros, Ukuleles and...
...everything else. Slides and whatnot.
The main thing is this is an independent production of yours.
Yeah, yeah. Absolutely.
You prepare the ingredients, you cook, you eat.
You know the drill...
But above all, there is much passion in this record.
I see here in the album that the first song is called "Borowski".
Tell them what you told me this morning.
Song was based on a book. Right? Very interesting.
Exactly. The album is an attempt to musically adapt a...
...book by Henry Miller, called "Tropic of Cancer".
The album represents the feeling I had when...
...I initially read the book as a teenager.
This book touched me profoundly.
So personally, I wanted to score this book as a...
...thank you note to Henry Miller for what he gave me with his book.
"Borowski" in essence is one of the protagonists of the book.
"Tania" is another important character.
And continuing with the song list, we have to illustrate a little...
...we have here the "Borowski's Dance".
Yeah, this is an Exotic Dance.
It pays homage to 1950's black and white cinema.
The only song that sort of escapes this artistic concept...
...is "My Funny Jim".
Which is a tribute to one of my favorite guitarists, Jim Campilongo.
That happened to have played here the day before our arrival in LA.
What can we do? Anyway, we're following the footsteps of Jim.
What about the song "Tania"?
"Tania" is also one of the protagonists of the book.
Again, it narrates a little of the book's story.
In essence, it is a great album to listen to.
Even though I recommend this to anyone, as a Spaniard...
...I can't help to be appalled by having a Spaniard musician...
...doing American music and get revered by Americans for doing so.
Usually, you think of Spaniard musician playing Flamenco.
Yeah, "Ole".
Or the Siesta Party, right?
Anyways, we are very pleased to be here in Los Angeles.
We would like to thank the team from Xotic.
Yeah, the team from Xotic.
All the best. Sincerely.
And dedicate this to our spouses, our children, and...
...celebrate this good legacy that will last for years to come.
Of course. Always.
So thank you, all of you, for watching us.
So these are our final acknowledgements.
Indeed. Thanks for watching. It has been a pleasure to be here.
- Arigato (Thank you very much) - Arigato.
- Very good. Thanks again. - Thank you very much.