Few musicians will ever get the opportunity to tour with one of the bands that had the most influence on them as a young player. Damon Johnson came on the music scene as lead guitarists and song writer for Brother Cane and for the last seven years has been the lead guitar out with Alice Cooper. Recently he was invited to tour with Thin Lizzy.
According to Johnson this is a dream come true. “Quite literally, the music of Thin Lizzy is the single greatest influence on my own songwriting and guitar playing. I saw the original band as a kid in 1979 and it changed my life.
“For me to be asked to play with Lizzy is an unfathomable event…I’m still somewhat in shock about it!”
One piece of gear Johnson is not leaving behind is his Radial Engineering Switchbone (AB-Y Switcher).
“The Switchbone is an absolutely vital addition to my signal chain. With Thin Lizzy (as I did in Alice Cooper), I’m running two Wizard amps simultaneously…each head into it’s own separate speaker cabinet.
“The Switchbone corrects the loading that occurs when you run two heads via a generic splitter of some kind. And another huge feature for me is the ability to reverse the phasing of the amps if the need presents itself by simply engaging the polarity switch on the top of the pedal.
“And finally, with the added bonus of a gain and mid boost, the Switchbone is the greatest piece of pedal circuitry that I’ve EVER used…hands down!!”
The Radial Switchbone employs the same Class-A circuit as the critically acclaimed Radial JD7 Injector for exceptional audio performance. The unique Drag control provides single-knob load correction to re-introduce the natural relationship between the amp and guitar pickup that is invariably lost when the guitar is buffered or split to drive two amps.
To eliminate hum and buzz caused by ground loops, the Switchbone’s second output is transformer equipped for 100% isolation while a 180º polarity reverse switch keeps both amps in phase.
Radial’s acclaimed VariBoost power booster gives you complete foot-switchable control over signal gain and mid boost for soloing. The innovative ToggleMode footswitch with large flashing LED’s simplifies switching and eliminates tap dancing. The tuner output is always on for quick tune-ups and buffered to keep your signal path clean.
Thin Lizzy is currently touring the UK with upcoming summer festival dates in Belgium, Sweden, Norway, Holland, Germany, Czech Republic and Finland.
