I just love the way the Backseat Lovers can shift from a relaxed, almost bonfire kind of vibe to a full-on mayhem with heavy guitars in the same song. Moreover, the whole California looks and barefoot concert-playing might fool you into some Jack Johnson kind of atmosphere.
Yet, these long-haired blonde guys know how to bring textured psychedelics to their music while retaining a heavy focus on the songs and the melodies.
I went into the details of how they get their particular sound and how to get from chill to intense within a single tune. Here’s what I found out, so read on, and let’s get weird!
Table of Contents
Backseat Lovers Guitars
The Backseat Lovers is a Fender-heavy band featuring three Fender instruments up front and a ton of Fender mojo and tone in the mix.
The guitarist and singer Joshua Harmon relies on a Fender Telecaster Ultra to get those clever hooks and great melodies across. In this sense, I think that the maple neck and fingerboard play a huge role in cleaning up the sound and adding those sweet, tele-like natural harmonics to chords and arpeggios.
Also, whenever he steps on the distortion, the sound carries those strong mids and razor-like high-end that’s great for those impromptu soaring leads.
If that guitar is out of your price range, you can go for a more affordable Player Telecaster or a Squier Affinity Series Telecaster.
On the other side of the stage, lead guitarist Jonas Swanson relies on a Stratocaster to add his clever, melodically-heavy, well-timed guitar lines to the Backseat Lovers mix.
Although it’s not as easy to recognize what kind of Strat he plays, the two-pivot tremolo system and the block saddles suggest it might be an older discontinued American Standard, Deluxe, or a new Ultra.
If that guitar exceeds your budget, an American Professional II Stratocaster, Fender Player Stratocaster, or a Squier Classic Vibe ’60s Stratocaster can do the trick too.
I recommend you use a guitar with a 25.5” scale because you need that high tension and percussiveness to get those rhythm tones. Moreover, the high-end brightness the Backseat Lovers tone oozes comes from that pushed single-coil tone Fenders can give you.
Backseat Lovers Effects Pedals
Although the Backseat Lovers sound might seem simple, a lot is going on at their feet. Yes, these band members use quite a few effects to keep it interesting and textured. That said, I did my best effort to boil it down to the absolute must-have pedals. So, here’s my selection.
- Compressor – To get those super-clean but loud-and-proud guitar sounds, you need a compressor in front of the amp. You can go for affordable classics like the Dyna Comp or the Boss CS-3.
- Overdrive – I don’t know about you, but I’m super picky about my overdrive pedals. Although I’m a TS-9 fundamentalist, I don’t hear those mids in the Backseat Lovers sound. Doing some research, I found out they use a Way Huge Pork Loin and an original Visual Sound Jekyll & Hyde Overdrive, now made by TrueTone. You can get away with a simple Boss SD-1 Super Overdrive.
- Distortion – The distortion used by the Backseat Lovers isn’t a thick, heavy metal one, but has quite some gain dialed in. You can use either the TrueTone’s distortion side or something like a fancy Strymon Sunset, a ProCo RAT 2, or the more common and affordable Boss DS-2 Turbo Distortion Remember, don’t use the gain past noon.
- Fuzz – There are very few moments in which you might need to apply fuzz to the signal to get a Backseat Lovers sound. Something like the Way Huge Swollen Pickle should be more than enough.
- Delay – The Backseat Lovers love delay. You can hear it all over the place, from leads to arpeggios to chords. Their choice is the Walrus Audio ARP-87. I tried getting close with my way more limited MXR Carbon Copy and didn’t need to add any extra delay units to my signal.
- Reverb – Reverb is the name of the game when it comes to the Backseat Lovers tone. Indeed, you need to soak it all into reverb and then add some. So, what they use is the reverb on the amp (more on that in a bit) and a pedal each, the TC Electronic Hall of Fame and the EarthQuaker Devices Afterneath.
- Modulation – Last but definitely not least, modulation effects. Here, you need to cover phaser, tremolo, chorus, and vibrato. My recommendation? A Boss MD-200 will allow you all of that in a single unit at a great price.
Backseat Lovers Amplifiers
The amplifiers of choice by the Backseat Lovers are also Fender units. Yes, the good old Fender-into-Fender tried-and-true recipe is what they use to tour non-stop and make people go crazy with their tunes.
Joshua Harmon plays through a very fancy amp, the Fender Vibrolux. Fender is no longer making it outside the Custom Shop. It’s a weird amp in the sense that’s a 2×10, an unusual configuration, especially for Fender. You could replace it with a Fender Princeton Reverb or a Pro Jr. Both amplifiers feature 10” speakers.
Jonas Swanson, on the other hand, plays through a much more common amp, a Fender Hot Rod DeVille 212. For home use, a Hot Rod Deluxe or a Blues Junior might be more suitable.
Some Settings
Both guitar players in the Backseat Lovers rely on their pedals to change the sounds rather than the amplifier. Yet, the trick is to set the controls on your amp to make the top-end shine through without losing body. Therefore, the EQ settings will be heavy on the middle and treble while the bass will remain tame.
In the case you’re playing through a very small amp, adjust the low-end as you see fit because you’ll lose some of it as the speaker is smaller.
- Volume – 6
- Gain – 3
- Bass – 4
- Middle – 6
- Treble – 7
- Reverb – 4
The Bottom End
The guitar playing in the Backseat Lovers is on the indie side with some touches of psychedelia and a knack for heavier sections and bombastic choruses. Setting up your effects chain to go from pristine-clean to distorted mayhem (or fuzzed-out tones) is the perfect way to work those dynamics.
Happy (indie psychedelic grunge) playing!
