This week for our Hi-Fives feature we've barraged Austin Cobb of Mercy Seat Effects with our series of random top 5 questions. Read on and find out a bit more about the company whose slogan is "American Made in Germany".
Top five best things about running your own company
- working in your pajamas
- making all the decisions... after talking it over with your wife
- no formal work hours
- lunch break usually means watching a Friends episode with the wife while we eat
- don't have to shower EVERY morning
Top five all time favorite pedals
- Rockett Pedals Animal Overdrive
- Boss DD5 digital delay
- Mercy Seat Effects Tree of Life overdrive
- Marshall Guv'nor (MKI, big box)
- Electro Harmonix Holy Grail reverb
Top five things about being an American in a foreign country
- Using the excuse, 'Oh sorry, I'm American. I didn't know...'
- People stare... somehow they just know. At first it bothered me, now I just make believe I'm a movie star.
- Complaining about, or not following the rules. Complaing about the 'right before left' driving rule because, seriously, it makes no sense. Don't follow the 'don't cross the road until the light is green even if there are no cars in sight' rule because, come on, we're all adults here. I don't need a traffic light to tell me it's safe to cross the road.
- Traveling and discovery new places. We can be in Basel Switzerland in 15 minutes, Paris in 5 hours, Prague in 8 hours, Zurich in 1 hour, Milan in 3.5 hours...
- Answering questions like, 'Have you ever been to New York!?!' 'Have you ever seen a cowboy?'
Top five foods you can’t get in Germany
- Five Guys burgers and fries. Man I miss those.
- Chocolate chip cookies. Brown sugar isn't the same here.
- A decent IPA, although the beer here is absolutely fantastic
- The closest Starbucks is a 45 minute train ride away, which is good and bad.
- Peanut butter
Top five websites to visit
- netflix
- mercyseateffects.com
- Spotify or Deezer
- eBay!!!!
- Tayda Electronics
Top five prized possessions
- My soldering iron
- '92 Mexican strat
- My adult-sized onesie
- Top Hat Club Deluxe amp
- Memory foam mattress
Top five bands you can’t stand
- Nickelback/Creed (I get to count that as one answer)
- Bastille
- Grateful Dead (see also, Phish, Widespread Panic, Umphrey's McGee, etc)
- Rush
- Frank Zappa
Top five favorite guitars you wish you owned
- 60's Gibson ES 330
- '72 Fender Telecaster Deluxe (never should have sold mine)
- Harmony Rocket H59
- Sho Bud pedal steel (does that count?)
- Fender Jazzmaster
Top five colors/finishes for pedals
- Translucent Gold
- Vintage blue
- White
- Honey Wheat Yellow
- Copper
Top five things people don’t know about your company
- 'We' is actually just 'me'
- I offer free international shipping on all orders!
- A big percentage of my work is often custom orders
- I don't make much money, haha
- I do a lot more than just build pedals. Shipping, website upkeep, powder coating, screen printing, social media, record keeping, breadboarding and designing new circuits, PCB design, etc. And I wouldn't trade any of it for a 'real' job.
Top five living guitar players
- Eric Clapton
- John Mayer
- Malcolm Young. Angus gets most of the attention, but Malcolm is probably one of the best rhythm players ever. Rock solid.
- David Gilmour. That solo on Comfortably Numb is perfection.
- Russell Marsden. An odd choice because of how young he is, but Band of Skulls has been a favorite band of mine for quite a few years now and Russell's guitar work is really awesome. He doesn't have to burn up the fretboard. Each note he plays is exactly what you want to hear when you want to hear it.
