The Five: Wattson Classic’s Christopher Sturm
My first exposure to Wattson Classic Electronics was their impeccable Superfuzz stomp – a reproduction of the Shin-Ei and Univox Super-Fuzz from the 1960s and 70s. Surfing the forums I began to hear a bit more about some other projects Jim and Chris – the brains behind the group – were looking into – including a Univibe repro. Chris’ recent announcement that Death Cab For Cutie guitarist Chris Walla was using the Superfuzz prompted me to ask him if he’d like to take a pass at our five little questions. He said yes. He says more… after the jump!
WTDP?: When and why did you start making effects pedals?
Chris: Well, back in the summer of 2007, my good friend Jim and I were complaining about the way current amplifier and effects designs always falling a little short of excellence. We were annoyed at how people spent too much time focusing on things that don’t matter, and not enough time making a really great piece of equipment. We decided we wanted to start designing and building our own amplifiers. We were so damn excited and we got a little bit ahead of ourselves when we discovered that its going to take a TON of money to start building amps. Oops. So, we decided to start building capital by doing repairs. Sweet! …but then we realized that there was no way we would make the money we needed doing repairs.
Jim has years and years of experience in analog and digital design, as well as experience in the aerospace industry. He went to electronics tech school in the Air Force, and even worked with magnetic media. The dude is literally an electronics encyclopedia. Scratch that, he’s an EVERYTHING encyclopedia. I was just getting started with electronics, but was eager to get hands on and dirty. We decided we would try to do effects. It wasnt too expensive to get started, and the resources for the design of these circuits was abundant. So, we dove in.
We decided to make reproductions of classic effects first, then go with original designs. Our flagship is the Wattson Classic Superfuzz. So far,so good. The Superfuzz circuit has a very hardcore following, and with good reason. The thing sounds insane. It’s massive and nasty and loud and crazy, but it sounds divine. We KNEW we had to do it right. So we spent about 6 months on R&D, and when we finally got it out, the response was overwhelmingly positive. I love building effects and I love hearing the stories of people who use them. Jim and I are total gear nerds, and its awesome to get to talk to fellow gear whores every day.
WTDP?: At what point did you realize ‘Hey, I might be able to make a little money doing this.’?
Chris: We havent realized it yet. Ha, ha ha! Honestly, we aren’t in this to get rich, but we do want to have a company grounded in rock steady principles of quality and reliability, and we have been working our hands to the bone to do it. We have almost completely emptied our pockets into this, but we are hoping to make enough so we can pay for a good sized shop, some employees, and enough wood to make a bajillion amplifier cabs. Our main focus is amps, and we are working our way up to that.
WTDP?: Is there a stomp out there you wish you had made?
Chris: Ha, ha… all of them? Well, I wish I could have been a part of the design of any of the Electro-Harmonix stuff, but mostly just the DMM (Deluxe Memory Man). That pedal is amazing and has such a hardcore following.
WTDP?: What’s on your workbench right now?
Chris: Pliers, screwdrivers, a bunch of germanium diodes, a soldering iron, cables, cat hair, my dignity… you know, the usual.
WTDP?: You’ve got free reign to assemble your dream trio. If you’re on guitar, who’s playing bass and drums (alive or dead)?
Chris: Woah, hard question. Drums would ABSOLUTELY without a doubt be Jason McGerr of Death Cab For Cutie. Bass would have to be Nick Harmer, also of Death Cab For Cutie. Honestly, they have such a rock solid rhythm section, they can’t be beat. Well, in my opinion anyways. Jason is an extraordinary drummer… he can do anything. He can be soft and blow your head clean off, or he can go hard and destroy the universe. And nick? Damn. He’s just locked in. He’s got such a great feel and his tone is perfect… plus they are the nicest dudes ever.
Thanks Chris!
