As part of MusicRadar’s extensive interview with Billy Corgan, the Smashing Pumpkins main man let slip that a reissue of the much sought-after V4 op-amp Big Muff, as featured on SP masterpiece Siamese Dream, is on the cards, after Electro-Harmonix reached out to the guitar icon.
“Mike Matthews, the company founder, actually contacted me because he felt we made [the op-amp Big Muff] the fuckin’ sound,” Billy enthuses. “That was an incredible honour!
If you want the creamy Siamese Dream tone… watch this space
“I told him I didn’t want anything: I want to do it because they changed my life. That sound is the sound! So they’re bringing the original op-amp series back, which is great, because the Soviet versions were never quite the same. If you want the creamy Siamese Dream tone… watch this space.”
In related news, Billy also discussed the current status of the long-rumoured Pumpkins reunion.
“There’s no secret knowledge other than I’m keen to do it and have left it up to everyone else,” he reveals.
“There’s business stuff, personal stuff… I’m just seeing if it organises itself. I’m trying not to create a specific atmosphere… the mistakes of the past were, ‘It’s gotta be like this and if it’s not like this, then that’s a problem.’
“[This time] it’s more like, ‘I’m open to doing it if it feels good; tell me what you want and how we can arrive to some sort of version of that!’
“It hasn’t arrived yet, but hopefully it will. I think it would be an awesome thing, but it’s not for me to decide. I’m not the prohibiting factor and nor are they. It’s more like trying to find an arrangement with hopefully everyone feeling good about it at same spot, at the same time…”
MusicRadar spoke to Billy about all things guitar, his recording secrets and working with Rick Rubin ahead of the launch of new album Ogilala and his signature Yamaha LJ16BC acoustic, at a private album showcase in London.
“Honestly I’d never even heard of Klons prior to a year-and-a-half ago”: KEN Mode’s Jesse Matthewson on the greatest reverb/delay ever made and the noise-rock essentials on his fly-in pedalboard
“A wealth of features not seen before in a Klon-style pedal”: Walrus Audio’s Voyager MKII overdrive/preamp takes Centaur stage – equipped with footswitchable parametric mids, it promising “mythical magic” and absolute clarity
“Honestly I’d never even heard of Klons prior to a year-and-a-half ago”: KEN Mode’s Jesse Matthewson on the greatest reverb/delay ever made and the noise-rock essentials on his fly-in pedalboard
“A wealth of features not seen before in a Klon-style pedal”: Walrus Audio’s Voyager MKII overdrive/preamp takes Centaur stage – equipped with footswitchable parametric mids, it promising “mythical magic” and absolute clarity
