They already had John Petrucci, Tim Henson, Cory Wong, Tom Morello, Gojira among others on the books. Neural DSP’s Archetype guitar plugin game was strong.
But then in December last year, the Archetype series dropped the motherlode with John Mayer, all his über-boutique tube amps, the pedals and his custom Gravity Tank right there in the box, a signature plugin suite for the ages.
For legions of Mayer fans who spent their days – and their cash – chasing after his gourmet electric guitar tones, the ship had come in. They had the Silver Sky; now they had the amps and the effects to go with it.
In a new demo walkthrough, shot for Neural DSP, Mayer has been sharing how he uses his plugin, discussing how it has transformed his workflow, and offered some tips on how we can use it in our own setup, either in standalone or in our DAW, and he has an interesting take on how to think of these digitalised presentations of classic hardware gear.
He also reveals that we’ve already heard this plugin in action – and that is one of 5 things we learned from the demo video.
1. John Mayer has used his Archetype plugin on record
Or should we say, records, plural. Perhaps this should not be so surprising. When Mayer recorded 2021’s Sob Rock, he of course had his reliable mainstays in the studio, the high-end tube amps we would associate with him, as he alternated plugging the Silver Sky into Dumble and an old Fender combo. The speed of the attack was what he was looking for.
For the Eric Clapton Journeyman-era vibe, he also used the Soldano SLO-100, admitting to Guitar World in 2021 that it was too good an opportunity to pass up when recording Last Train Home.
“I always wished that I could have a song that was on Eric Clapton’s Journeyman album. I loved him so much that I’m not afraid to go, 'I just want to feel what that’s like…’” said Mayer. “Like, the experience of plugging a Strat with noiseless pickups into a Soldano with a chorus pedal. And to hear that back on your own song is funny, poignant, touching, exciting, titillating. I mean, it feels a little bit wrong.”
But he crossed the Rubicon with digital, using a Fractal Axe-Fx unit during the sessions. He was no digital sceptic.
Here, Mayer tells us that he has used his Neural DSP and we won’t be able to tell.
“If I was in a pinch, I will always use this plug-in, and I have already on records,” he says. “I’m just not gonna tell you which ones they are, and I don’t think you’ll know.”
This begs the question, which records? Could there be an early prototype plugin on Sob Rock? The only other track we can think of is his guest spot on Lainey Wilson’s Phone, Keys, Wallet. He debuted a custom T-style on that record; might he also have used the plugin?
Or is Mayer referring to a release in the future – hinting that he’s already got some new material in the can?
2. His home setup is pretty much just a laptop, interface and monitors
Mayer is using the Archetype plugin as the first stage of the signal chain and then can pile sounds on top of that to taste, and this, he argues, is way easier.
I’ve looked forward to the year I would be able to simply have one cable, a laptop, two speakers, and have that be the whole rig
“At home, all I have is this laptop with the plugin on it, an interface, and two studio monitors,” he says. “And as someone who’s been playing guitar for so many years, has had patch cables, 9V batteries, different pedals… You forget to unplug the pedal. You take a little break [from] playing at home, you go into the other room, then you hear, ‘Eeeeeeeeeee’ the delay pedal’s dying – and all these different things.
“I’ve had amps where the reverb circuit was messed up, and you’d turn it on, and it’d go, ‘Whurrrrrrrgh.’ You have to put the reverb down to zero.”
In short, this new setup simplifies everything and makes it more reliable. Save the Dumbles, the vintage Fender amps and the Two-Rocks for the road.
“I’ve looked forward to the year I would be able to simply have one cable, a laptop, two speakers, and have that be the whole rig,” he says. “It’s what I use at home.”
3. Mayer says the plugin solves the problem of losing ideas before he could record them
This is true of the Archetype plugins – and it holds true for all digital setups where you can just hit record and track the part. It beats grabbing your iPhone and recording to Voice Memos.
“I used to take out my iPhone and hit the voice recorder and put it on a table and try to turn the thing up so the voice recorder could catch it, and it was a lot of me messing with the iPhone,” says Mayer.
It even beats the Philips cassette recorder Keith Richards used to record the Satisfaction riff. Because when using the plugin in your DAW, what you record can actually be used on a finished recording. Just record it as a DI and you can gussy up the tone later on.
“I cannot recommend this enough,” says Mayer. “If you use this in Pro Tools, all you have to do is hit record if you have an idea. It’s brilliant.
“You could get a guitar part you really liked, use it on a record. You could be at home messing around, and your guitar riff could make it on a record, because you have the printed direct signal, and you have the plugin that’s saved inside of the chain, all from the same experience of picking up a guitar and just playing through what feels like an amp.”
4. Want to get more from a plugin? Stop scrolling presets and use it like an amp
Yes, the plugin lets you A/B different sounds in double-quick time. Yes, there are options. But don’t let that distract you from the actual act of playing guitar, and learning to play with the sound of a certain amp.
Mayer will use the same sound for weeks.
For so many years, people wrote records using one amp
“I think this has been the same setting for a couple of weeks now,” he says. “It’s the same sound for two weeks. How am I playing inside that sound? How does the guitar feel inside of that setting?”
Mayer says the best way to make the most of this brave new digital world is to treat it as though each sound was a piece of hardware.
“Because the plugin is created to replicate amps, I think about these, just like I would an amp,” he says. “I don’t play for a second on an [Vox] AC30 and go, ‘Wheel in the Bad Cat.’ I don’t say, ‘Wheel in the Marshall.’ You get a piece of gear, and you get to know it.
“If you take just one and make it your amp, build your sound around that. As you move through all these patches, any one of these could last you a month. And you could write song after song after song. For so many years, people wrote records using one amp.”
5. Mayer says he’s “comfortable sucking for four or five minutes” to find a great idea
We’ll finish on one that’s relatable and practical. When Mayer picks up the guitar, he’s not worried about playing well, playing something that feels good. The freedom is in allowing yourself to play bad as you search for an idea.
Also don’t pick up the instrument and noodle around on your warm-up licks just to make yourself good. Go in fresh. Mayer doesn’t have any go-to licks. He’ll just start playing, and who cares if it sounds bad in that moment because it’s part of the process.
“What I want to show you is I don’t have a set thing I play,” he says. “I don’t have a set thing that I play when I pick up the guitar. I purposefully don’t have a set thing that I play.
“I’m okay sucking for four or five minutes to find something… I don’t mind being wrong. Doesn’t matter. We’re all just playing. Just play.”
