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Billy Corgan says the new Pumpkins lineup is, well, smashing! (© Shawn Thew/epa/Corbis)

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"Uli Jon Roth had turned me onto using Super Tremolo amps. For some of my other stuff I've been using Line Drivers - I have a Dallas Arbeiter Line Driver that I found, and I use that through a Super Tremolo amp to get that sort of Blackmore sound. But yeah, I have some really nice guitars…they're just too nice to take out."

Recording-wise, you go straight to tape, right?

"I'm starting to use Pro Tools a little bit more for technology advantages, but still, all the core sounds are analog."

Pretty much because of the warmth and clarity?

"I think Pro Tools is in the 90-95% range, almost at the tipping point, where it really does beat tape, or is so comparable that you argue against it. But I still think tape has the advantage for certain things, particularly cymbals and especially things with distortion signatures, guitars being one of them. It would be so easy to work in Pro Tools all the time, but sonically it's hard for me to invest that much energy in something if I can't totally sign off on the sound."

"I'm starting to use Pro Tools a little bit more for technology advantages, but still, all the core sounds are analog."

Any new guitar effects that you're using?

"No, most of my stuff is vintage. I actually don't use that many effects - I really should. [laughs] I have some wonderful toys that I never use. My father used to laugh at me when I was a kid, because he was, you know, 'cord in the guitar, the other cord in the amp. No effects.' And he used to laugh at me and say, 'Someday, you'll play like this.' And I really have gotten to that point where, except for soloing, I'm pretty much pure sound all the time."

But for soloing, what do you use?

"I really like this LovePedal, but I don't remember which model it is. It's got a real nice, almost kind of '60s fuzz sound. It gives me that kind of liquidy kind of solo sound that I like. I had Iron Works, they built a reissue of what Tony Iommi uses for a wah, a Parapedal. They have their own model and I had them build me a rack unit, which is great, so I have the foot controller in front of me but the module is all the way back in the rack so I don't have to run 30 feet more of cord.

"And a few other things: I use a fake Leslie simulator and some other stuff. But really, I'm getting pretty lean in my old age. I just want to hear the purest sound possible."

You're gonna be plugging straight into the amp like your dad said.

"It's unbelievable."

Let's talk about some of your new songs. By the way, before we do so, how close are you to hitting that magic number of 44? You wanted to do 44 songs scattered on 11 EPs.

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