Jon Herington

Mentioned in this Premier Guitar Rig Rundown video at (00:30), Steely Dan's Jon Herington, plays a Gibson ES-336 which he had specially modded. According to Herington, he switched the master volume control and pickup selector so that the pickup selector wouldn't get in his way, and he could more easily ride the master volume control while playing. "It's easy and it's kindof as close as a Strat volume one would be," Herington said.

Mentioned at 2:45 minute mark in this Premier Guitar Rig Rundown video, Steely Dan's Jon Herington plays a modified Fender Telecaster. One of Herington's favorite mods is an exposed truss rod adjustment screw at the joint of the guitar's neck and body, which allows for quick truss rod adjustments without having to remove the guitar's neck. "We were playing outside in the summer, or these guitars sit in trucks overnight sometimes....you know, these thing go through hell out here," Herington said.

"To cop some of the Larry Carlton-era sounds, Herington recently picked up a ’70s Gibson Les Paul Custom and upgraded it with larger frets and Lindy Fralin pickups. The electronics are modified in the same way as his ES-336," states this Premier Guitar rig rundown.

"All of Herington’s gain comes from his 100-watt Bludotone Bludo-Drive with 6L6 tubes. Herington also uses a 100-watt Guytron GT-100. The amp sports four EL34s, two EL84s and seven 12AX7 tubes.," states this Premier Guitar rig rundown.

According to this rig rundown, Jon Herington uses a Guytron GT-100.

"All of Herington’s gain comes from his 100-watt Bludotone Bludo-Drive with 6L6 tubes. Herington also uses a 100-watt Guytron GT-100. The amp sports four EL34s, two EL84s and seven 12AX7 tubes," states this Premier Guitar rig rundown.

"I've been using the Chrono Delay pedal on some Madeleine Peyroux shows and on some Jon Herington Band shows recently. I love the transparency of the sound - it doesn't compromise the tone at all, and seems to add some magic of its own. I also love that I can use the footswitch to select either of two preset delay times - I have it set at 175 ms most of the time, but when I need a longer delay time, I just step on it and it jumps to 434 ms.. The greatest thing is I can switch right back to the shorter time - no knob-twiddling, no bending over! And all in one pedal! Nice!"

Used for Donald Fagen's Morph the Cat, as stated by mix engineer Elliott Scheiner in this August 2006 Sound on Sound interview.

According to Elliott Scheiner, the following mics were used on the Morph The Cat recording sessions.

• Kick drum: AKG D112.
• Snare: SM57 (only on top).
• Hi-hat: Neumann KM81 or 84.
• Toms: Audio-Technica ATM25.
• Overheads: Neumann U67.
• Room mics: Electrovoice RE20.
• Electric guitar: Shure SM57 right on speaker cone.
• Piano: 2x AKG C12 mics, about 12 inches from the strings.
• Trumpet and trombone: Coles ribbon.
• Tenor sax: Neumann U67.
• Baritone sax: Neumann FET47.

Used to record all instruments on Donald Fagen's Morph the Cat, as stated by Fagen and mix engineer Elliott Scheiner in this August 2006 Sound on Sound interview.

Scheiner adds that he 'seldom' uses EQ during the mix, and that Morph The Cat was recorded via Clinton's Neve 8078 directly to analogue 24-track. Straightforward recording to analogue without much processing is now Fagen's favoured approach, says he. "It's the sound I like. It's not necessary to have the latest equipment. Today I think that I could use any studio, and any equipment, and all I need is good players and it will sound good. I like the sound of jazz records recorded in the late 1950s. I love the sound of Rudy van Gelder's records for Prestige. I can't imagine anything sounding better. Van Gelder's jazz recordings definitely influenced the Steely Dan recording and mixing style."