Here’s What Fender’s Ukulele Sounds Like Through High-Gain Marshall, Whammy Pedal, and Playing Slayer’s ‘Raining Blood’ (Sort Of)

Among all musicians, it seems that guitar players are the most open to experimentation. And among all guitar players, we could say that rock and metal ones are the most prolific in this regard. After all, they’re obsessed with all the amps, guitars, pedals, and other gear so they always have something new in mind. One of the best examples is Swedish musician Ola Englund, best known for his work on YouTube and his guitar brand Solar. In a newly released video, continuing the “Will It Chug” series, Ola took Fender’s Jazzmaster ukulele, the Fullerton series.

For this wild test, he also took a simple Marshall DSL20 amp head and a 4×12-inch Heru cabinet. What’s a weird – and tricky – combo here, is a piezo undersaddle piezo pickup going straight into an electric guitar amp. It’s especially difficult with nylon strings, an acoustic hollow body, and high-gain settings. Nonetheless, it’s not impossible to make it work, you’ll just encounter some serious feedback issues, so it’s probably not a good idea for live settings.

The amp is also miked up with Neumann’s TLM-102 microphone and a stereo room mic (Ola didn’t specify which one). Other than that, the uke goes straight into the amp. Well, for most of the demo at least.

Ola starts off with some riffs, although it may seem weird since, obviously, a ukulele is higher-pitched compared to your regular guitar. But for the second part of the video, Ola engages his Whammy pedal and sets it one octave below, blasting through Slayer’s “Raining Blood,” among other things. Anyhow, here’s the whole thing below:

WILL IT CHUG? - FENDER UKELELE

Photo: YouTube screenshot

  • David Slavkovic

    David always planned for music to be nothing more than a hobby. However, after a short career as an agricultural engineer he ended up news editor at KillerGuitarRigs, senior editor at Ultimate-Guitar.com, as well as a freelance contributor to online magazines such as GuitaristNextdoor and brands like Sam Ash.