Chaithanya Jade - Until We Last

Overall chilled out guy, Chaithanya Jade, from Bangalore-based post-rock band, Until We Last is known for making beautiful and introspective music through his band. Though I’ve long admired ambient music and was more than elated to witness its recent rise in the Indian underground music scene, I was more interested in finding out from Jade what he prefers when it comes to noodling around in the instrumental realm of things. Read more to find out!

How many guitars do you have? Tell me about all of them and/or how you came to acquire them.

I’ve got two guitars that I use right now, one is an Ibanez AM73B and another one is a Fender Standard American Stratocaster, HSS. I really love both of them, they both have their own characteristic tone and they work well for me. I use the Ibanez at home while I’m practicing parts, recording stuff through my soundcard or simply trying out new effects. The Fender is my main, I use it for jams with Until We Last and when we play live as well. Usually use the single coils for cleaner tones and the humbucker when i want some meat through heavy tones/ distortion patches.

I got the Fender from Detroit about 4 years ago and the Ibanez about 6 years ago in KL. It’s become increasingly easier to get stuff in India now though, with stores like the inventory, Bajaao & Saptaswara. Both the guitars have stock pickups, though I might try swapping out the pickups on the Ibanez someday.

What brand of string and gauge do you prefer?

I usually use D’Addario’s, they are easy to get around here at music stores. Gauge is usually 9s or 9.5s. 9.5’s are nice but if I can’t find them its 9s. Strings are a last minute thing before shows when we’re scared that our strings will snap because they’re too old, so it’s always a hurried purchase.

What’s your amplifier of choice? Why?

I’ve got a Marshall 15W at home, I’ve had it for years and use it for practice. Initially, while playing with UWL, I used to run my setup through stage amps, and I started taking a liking towards the fender tweed sound. However amps can vary a lot from stage to stage, and it’s always a pain getting the right settings because each amp is different and you have to start from scratch. Experience and advice from musician friends made me switch to using amp modelling on stage, so now I use a Sansamp. I had a Behringer tube amp modeler before that though, it was really noisy so I stopped using it.

You are known to be quite the pedal collector, usually replacing and purchasing new things for your pedalboard, can you take me through the process of you acquiring a pedal? What do you look for in a pedal before you buy it?

Haha…I don’t really consider myself a pedal collector…it’s basically been a learning experience…So I had this old Boss ME-50 that I’m quite fond of. It’s a multi - fx, I had been using it for years and I was really used to it. It’s got a lot of nice delays / modulation / distortions if set properly. However, it didn’t have amp modelling so I decided to get a Sansamp for that. Initially I got a loop station so that I can record phrases to practice over at home. After UWL happened, I started experimenting with live looping and it worked out pretty well…I expanded my pedalboard on a need basis…Got another delay & two reverb units eventually…Now I can make some pretty acid sounds! :D

What do I look for in a pedal? Hmm…as I said, it’s a need basis…so I’d be in the jam room working on a patch with the boys and I’d think, “hey, maybe another delay on top of this would sound nice, maybe I should try that out” and the idea would stick…so then I’d look around online for delay units and try to get them for cheap…try them out…two of my pedals are second-hand and they work perfect!

Whats your current signal chain like? Tell me about each pedal in detail if you can.

ME-50 -> RC3 -> DD7 -> 63’ Fender Reverb -> Sansamp GT2 -> Strymon BlueSky

So I use the ME-50 to store patches, primary delay tones, distortion, maybe some modulation & tone shaping. RC3 for looping stuff & playing loops live. DD7 for additional delays, and delay effects on loops. 63’ reverb gives me that nice fender tone, it brings out a nice Strat tone that I like. It’s also interesting to have a reverb before the amp modeller, because the tail gets cut by the amp settings. The BlueSky is a sweet pedal, its end of the chain because I like to let it breathe. It’s got ridiculous clarity.

The one important question I want to ask you is - why do YOU use pedals? What's your reason? A lot of guys in India actually are turning towards digital units - so why do you want to go through the hassle of using pedals?

That’s a really good question. I think it’s a matter of personal preference. I was comfortable with the ME-50 and I knew how it works so I just got additional stuff to work with it. Ketan (Bahirat, guitar player #2 of UWL) runs through a Pod HD500 and he knows it inside out - it works for him. I don’t have any preference between digital and analogue and I’m vary of those arguments…They really don’t serve any purpose. 

Technically speaking, all of my pedals except the Sansamp are digital pedals. digital as in they use DSPs. the only difference is that in a digital multi-fx, all these pedals are using the computing power of a single DSP (or multiple, depending on which multi-fx) built into the same unit and in my setup I’ve got one DSP on the ME-50, one on the Strymon, one on the DD7…etc but essentially it’s the same. Actually multi-fx digital units are more economical with computing power but sometimes having a dedicated DSP for a single effect can be nice. You can especially tell the difference with the BlueSky. So it all comes down to what you are comfortable working with, digital or not!

What are some of your favourite combinations to use - how many pedals do you end up combining in one go?

Hmm…I guess it’s always fun to swap stuff around and see how it sounds. i love experimenting with sounds that way. But combining too many pedals can lead to signal loss and noise, so it’s best to keep it at a minimum I suppose. But there really are no rules!

It’s good to know what your guitar signal is actually going through, I mean, every time you have a new pedal in the chain, unless it’s not buffered, your signal is passed through an ADC, then effected in some way, then again through a DAC…So the question is, how many times do you want this done? Is it really worth it? 

But with tones it’s always fun to keep experimenting! You never know :)

Hair dryers, violin bow - guitarists have used random things to amplify their sound over the years. Are there some tricks you employ for craziness?

Haha, not really…I just really like using my ebow through different patches & looping parts really quick to make up ambience! But maybe I’ll try a hair dryer next time! 

Do you usually attach them in front of the amp?

You mean attach pedals in front of the amp? No, I’ve never tried that but I’ve heard of amps having fx loops and they are good to use with certain effects I suppose. Like a reverb.

(Jade in action. Photo by Himanshu Rohilla)

Whats your pedal wishlist like? What other pedals would you like to include in your arsenal?

I’m pretty happy with my current setup for now…I think it does everything I want…I’m swapping out the Sansamp GT-2 for a Character series Blonde, that I’m getting end of the month so…pretty excited about that!

Lastly, what kind of advice would you like to give to all the fellow pedal players/collectors/hoarders and noisemakers out there?

Hmm…keep making noise, use whatever you are comfortable with, don’t be misled by people telling you what to do if you don’t want to do it, take help & advice to research on your own,  be non-conformist & do your thing! Music is ultimately about expression, so express yourself! :)

P.S. – You can buy Until We Last’s debut album, Earthgazing, here