saw Burma again last night in Northampton, another great show, even better than the Toads show the night before. setlist was pretty similar from what i remember, they even play The Setup which is such a great live song, so energetic and explosive, i love it..i actually found this article written by burma guitarist roger miller about his fuzz box and tremolo, pretty interesting story, its below...
hopin dazed was there to tape that greatness....
Vacu-Fuzz and Vacu-Trem
I have always been involved with fuzztones (brother Ben Miller used an "Arbiter Fuzz-face", the type Hendrix used, in Sproton Layer). When I came to Boston, I had an Electro-Harmonix Big Muff Pi unit. It broke, and when I tried to buy a new one I found that they had altered the components: now when you hit the pedal, the volume dropped. I was at a loss in early Burma.
Lou Giordano was a big fan from early on (I believe it is his semi-afro-haired sillouette on the back of the Acad/Max single). He was in an MIT band called The Vacuum Heads (no air-heads in that band). They were so-so, but we all liked Lou's attitude. (He later produced the TAANG! tapes for release, and is a well-known producer: LIVE, Bob Mould, Fiona Apple, etc.) When he heard what I was looking for, he delved into his MIT electronic engineering chops and took apart a Big Muff Pi. He then proceeded to hyperize every component and enclose it in a metal box that could withstand a direct hit from a bomb. (Big Muff on steroids). It was, and still is, an amazing box. Smooth, yet producing exquisite feedback when wanted.
Tremelo units have always been less required: I'd used them off and on in bands I was in for their shimmering quality. My Peavey Amplifier had built in tremelo, and early on Clint wrote "Tremelo", thereby making a tremelo effect mandatory (we couldn't do the song without it's pulse). When the Peavey amp mercifully died, I chose a 50 watt Marshall amp - which had no tremelo. Again, Lou Giordano to the rescue. In the same type of "hit me with a bomb, I couldn't care less" metal box, he built a hyper tremelo unit. The two parameters, speed and intensity, were both maxed out. My later song, "Trem II", was at a slow speed setting w/the intensity on full (becoming a strong on/off pulse). Lou had maxed the speed and intensity so far out that at levels of "11" or higher, it sounds as if 3 or 4 chords are piled on top of each other about 1/16 step apart. Possibly used that effect on "Sing Along." In early 1990 I asked Bob Weston to modify the unit: he altered a foot pedal to function as a speed control. It is difficult to deal with live (I'd rather run around), but it has interesting potential in a studio setting.
It is worth noting that, in keeping with a certain post-punk minimalism, both these effects only modify gain structure: tremelo turns volume off and on, and distortion unit piles one gain on top of another gain.
(RM)