photo: nOBu Sakagami

PCI: Thank you for spending your time for our interview.
Lee: Its ok!

PCI: Maybe I need to excuse my poor English because I am not a native English speaker.
Lee: That's all right. We can get by. (lol) I really enjoy using Xotic pedals.

PCI: Oh, great! I'll get to that pedal questions also. I also have several question from our website audience. You were on a long tour in the summer. Where did you go? I think you went to Japan and other places?
Lee: Yes. It actually started almost in the spring. I think in April. We were first doing a show around the US, mostly around the west coast, like Seattle and San Francisco. Then finally, in late June we headed for South Korea. We did a concert there and we did 14 shows at the Blue Note in Tokyo and that was really exciting because all the shows were sold out!

PCI: Yes. I've heard about that!
Lee: And of course there were a lot of news about me and Anri in the papers that time. (lol) So, then after those shows, we headed back to Los Angeles only for 12 hours and then we caught a flight to London and we started our European Tour. And we just got back last Saturday. So it was a lot of shows. Counting the double shows at some of the clubs, I think it was about 40 shows in some 50 days.

PCI: Wow. It was a long tour!
Lee: Yes. It was a lot of shows. And then we have the Johannesburg coming up in South Africa too. So that's really exciting too.

PCI: That's interesting. So the band members are the same in Japan and Europe Tour?
Lee: The only change in band member was, in Japan we had Abraham Laboriel on stage and then he couldn't make the Europe tour so we hired Brian Bromberg. He did a really nice job as well of course, and he joined us for the Europe Tour.

PCI: That is great! Speaking of Abe, we also interviewed Abe and he was a great person also!
Lee: Oh! That's great!

PCI: Also, congratulations to you and Anri-san! Actually my wife is a big fan of Anri-san. It must be an exciting new life for you.
Lee: Yes. I think so. We've known each other for a long time and so it just developed. Its great!

PCI: Do you remember we actually met you and Anri-san at a Japanese restaurant in LA?
Lee: Oh, of course I remember! (lol)

PCI: Do you do some music activities with Anri-san too?
Lee: Yes! She has a new album coming out and I produced the whole album. And it's called "Sol".

PCI: "Sol"?
Lee: Yes, and it's coming out in September or maybe November. Actually I used your distortion pedal on one solo on a song called "Woman's Soul".

PCI: Oh really? Which pedal are you talking about?
Lee: Not the newest one. The older, yellow one.

PCI: Yellow AC Booster?
Lee: Yes, the AC Booster . I don't think I had the BB Preamp when I was doing Anri's recording.

PCI: When did you record the Anri's album?
Lee: Actually we did it at the beginning of the year. February and March I believe.

PCI: I see.
Lee: And then also, in the record at that time I was using the RC Booster a little bit but mostly the AC Booster.

PCI: You like AC Booster! And now we can speak about the pedals. How do you like AC Booster and RC Booster and BB Preamp?

photo: nOBu Sakagami

Lee: Well, the BB Preamp became my favorite. Because you know, I don't like too much overdrive and I like it fairly smooth. So the BB became very useful for me and what's nice about your product is that the tone is a little fatter. A lot of the destruction boxes I don't like from other companies because its too much upper mid range "nyeeee" you know.

PCI: Yes I see.
Lee: So most distortion boxes I don't like so much. I like more of a natural amp distortion but your products are the closest to that I've used. It's very nice.

PCI: What is the difference for you between AC Booster and BB Pre amp?
Lee: Let's see. I think the BB Preamp has a little more control for me. And even this was interesting on the road in Europe. I brought my signature Gibson Jazz Guitar with me and not my old Gibson 1949 L5 because I was worried about airplane travels in Europe. So I brought my new Signature model.

PCI: I understand.
Lee: Which is a very nice guitar but it doesn't have quite the push of the sound that I like that I got from my old one. So I used the BB Preamp with the gain all the way down. I almost used it as a pre-amp in the sense of just boosting the clean sound a little bit. And I couldn't do that with the AC Booster so much you know. BB Preamp is more versatile.

PCI: I see. BB Preamp is usable not only for the overdrive but for other purpose.
Lee: Yes. As a true booster of the tone and the volume. Almost like a compressor without compressing. It's very effective for me.

PCI: What about the RC Booster, the white one?
Lee: RC Booster, I haven't used quite as much now as I did before but your products are all very consistent and they are very close. The RC Booster, I guess I should actually try that again, because maybe that's a good booster for the clean sound as well, right?

PCI: Yes. And just for your information, several acoustic guitar players have started using RC Booster.
Lee: Ooh! You know what, that might be something I need to try because again, with this new setup I'm using on the road, I'm using the Yamaha Silent Guitar. Sometimes that needs a little help.

PCI: That should be, because the president of B-Band, the acoustic pickup manufacturer, likes to use the RC Booster for his acoustic guitar. So that should be interesting.
Lee: Interesting! Good things you are all telling me, Toshio! I'm going to try that in my system! I had redesigned my entire amplifier system for this tour because airlines are very strict now.

PCI: Oh really?
Lee: You can't carry very much equipment. I used to carry a big Bob Bradshaw rack. Everything was built into the rack. You know, the typical Bob Bradshaw, right?

PCI: Yes. Everybody's got it.
Lee: Very nice stuff, very well done. And then I had 2 Boogie Road heads. Which are 4 channels, very heavy amplifiers. Then I was using a Boogie 2x12 cabinet. So my whole rig that I was carrying around was kind of large and very heavy.

PCI: I see.
Lee: So in Europe, they only allow each passenger 20kg per pack now.

PCI: Only 20kgs?
Lee: Yes. 20kgs per pack, it's about 40lbs, so even when I took the Guitar on the road, the guitar was excess baggage and you had to pay. So this time I had to airplane lot of the equipments so I decided to use 2 Fender Super Twin Reverbs but the 65 reissues. And then one Boogie Double Twin cabinet in the middle. So what I did, is I put together new pedal board using your products and couple of others like Fuzz Factory and I also used the pod live just to use as an effects sake for chorusing and reverbing delays, build into the front end of the Twin Reverb. So I had to dial up the sounds to go into the Twin Reverb using the BB Preamp and sometimes the AC Booster and then I had to dial up different sounds for my primary guitars, my Jazz guitar and my 335 guitar. And now the RC Booster might be very effective for the acoustic guitar!

PCI: Sounds interesting!
Lee: So your products were big help for me after I had to leave all the Bob Bradshaw stuff at home.

photo: nOBu Sakagami

PCI: Thank you! All of out staff will be glad to hear that. Many of our audience showed interest on your updated amp setting. Could you tell me what amps do you use right now mainly?
Lee: 2 Fender Twin Reverbs 65 reissues, and 1 Boogie preamp with 1 Boogie power amp in the center so it's like stereo with the Fenders and mono in the middle.

photo: nOBu Sakagami

PCI: One of our audience asked for your L5 guitar, pickup was added on later? And I think on top of the wood should be thin so he heard that something was put into inside to avoid howling.
Lee: Is he talking about my old L5? Yes, old L5 I stuffed so it would cut down on the feedback. Iﾕve had that guitar since I was 13 years old, the 1949 Gibson L5. I think it came with the guitar, it was mounted on top and it was a traditional Johnny Smith pickup.

PCI: And something is put into that to reduce the howling?
Lee: Yes. It's a foam material to prevent from the feedback.

PCI: And what guitars do you mostly play in your home right now?
Lee: Same guitars I use on the road. My 1949 L5, my 1963 335, my new Gibson Signature, Yamaha Silent Guitar, and Roger Sadowsky classical electric.

PCI: And I heard from our good friend Andy Brauer that he set up your equipment the other day? At that time, Andy called me about the BB Preamp you needed immediately.
Lee: Exactly right. Andy's been very helpful in putting together this new pedal board. In fact, he brought the new pedal boards with your pedals.

photo: nOBu Sakagami

PCI: I see. Let me ask you several questions I got from our website audience. Do you write your songs using Pro Tools?
Lee: I use Logic Audio. And of course I have Pro Tools here too but I am very deep into the Logic Audio. I have been for a very many years. It's a great, great program.

PCI: What guitarists were you mostly influenced by in the past?
Lee: Oh, probably Wes Montgomery.

PCI: do you distinguish your playing between jazz and fusion technically?
Lee: For music, of course big heavy fusion beat where the band play very loud, you're going to play your guitar differently. You are going to play with a different tone, more aggressively more rhythmically. If you play the very subtle jazz tunes with acoustic pianos, acoustic bass and it's a dead standard, you are going to play very differently. It depends on the music.

PCI: Some audience asked how you like Japanese guitarists.
Lee: For years I've known Kazumi Watanabe. He's always a very defined player. And my friend Masayoshi Takanaka. I worked with him many years ago, guitar player little like a Santana style.

PCI: Great! Thank you very much for your time.
Lee: You are welcome.

photo: nOBu Sakagami

Images: courtesy PCI