These are selected questions and answers from the Ask Me Anything (AMA) that Zach from Mythos Pedals does every Friday on Instagram. The questions and answers have been edited slightly to adapt them to text format and provide context. Any errors or misunderstandings are our fault. With that said, enjoy this wealth of information from Zach at Mythos!
Best advice to jam with musicians who are better than you.
Be prepared. Ask what tunes they’re going to play. Practice in advance and work up some licks that can be used at the jam session. You don’t have to do anything amazing. There is no prize for blowing them away. It’s music, go, play and have fun.
If limited to 4 Mythos pedals on a board, which would you choose?
It totally depends on the gig.
An Oracle, a Fates, Herculean Deluxe and Argo.
Having these would give Zach the flexibility to do everything that he needed to do. This gives him an echo, something that wiggles, the octave fuzz for getting weird, the Herc covers a wide range of gain. Zach runs his Herculean with low gain to produce higher volume out of the pedal.
Thoughts on the Gibson Marauder.
They are funky guitars. If you can get one for a good price, they are a safe investment.
Does Zach think they are really good guitars? No. Does he think they are cool and quirky? Yes.
If you can afford it, why not get one? If you don’t like it, don’t buy it only as an investment.
How did Zach get into building pedals?
Here is the quick version. Around 2005 Zach started modifying effects. Maybe even a little earlier than 2005. He really got into this and was doing it for fun all the time. He had a fuzz face that died and Zach rebuilt it completely from scratch. This gave him the bug.
Slowly but surely he started making things for friends. They told people and the word was getting around. He decided the thing needed a name. Mythological pedals was too long, so he went with Mythos.
After he moved to Nashville and met his wife, he decided that he wanted to give the pedal building business a shot. He worked really hard to establish himself and it has become what you see today.
Favorite Seymour Duncan pickups for upgrading a standard Les Paul for classic rock/blues.
Zach really likes the JB/Jazz set. He never thought this would be something he liked in a guitar. He put the antiquity JB/Jazz set in his Murphy R9 Les Paul guitar and it sounds awesome.
If you want a normal do it all pickup, Zach recommends the Seth Lovers. They are not potted so they might squeal a little bit.
Which capacitor value on a Les Paul?
Gibson uses a 0.022uF capacitor as their standard value.
Does it matter? Only if you use your tone knob. If your tone knob is always set to 10 it doesn’t matter.
If doing a 59 wiring in a 2010 Les Paul standard, can you pull out the metal plate?
The metal plate is a grounding plate. If you take it out, you have to make sure the ground has continuity for all of the pots and jacks.
Pay attention to diagrams on the internet, go slow, measure twice, cut once. 🙂
What does R8, R9 and R0 mean when talking about Les Pauls?
The R means Reissue. It refers primarily to the 50’s models of reissued guitars. R8 = 1958, R9 = 1959.
R0 is the tricky one, it means Reissue 1960.
Reissued guitars are built to similar specs as the original. As the years have gone by, the reissues have been getting more and more accurate.
What are Zach’s Fender Deluxe Reverb settings?
Way less bass than you think. He uses turns the bass pretty far down. He turns the treble to 10 or 11 o’clock. The volume to taste and not much reverb.
On Zach’s personal Deluxe Reverb amp, he has modded the amp to have a Bassman style tone stack. It has a little less gain in the tone stack than a factory amp.
Best advice when shopping for a vintage guitar.
When buying a vintage guitar, buy from a dealer who you can trust. Someone who is reputable and you can talk to.
There are a lot of vintage guitars. Fender and Gibson produced a lot of guitars in their heyday.
If you have friends you trust, ask for recommendations of where to buy.
If you have to get a pedal design tattooed on you, which would it be?
If it’s the art from a pedal, Zach wouldn’t do it. The thing he might consider getting tattooed would be a schematic or an electronic symbol. (i.e. a diode) He would never get a pedal art tattoo.
Zach doesn’t have any tattoos and has no desire to get one of any kind.
What do you say to your barber if you want a haircut like Zachs?
Just show him a photo of Zach. Short on the sides, short in the back, long on the top.
His thick dark hair is inheirited from his mom’s side. His grandfather on his mom’s side had very similar hair.
On that note, we’re going to end the Q&A.