We caught up with Deltron 3030 guitarist Taka Tozawa at his rehearsal studio in a former naval base in San Francisco’s Bay View area to drool over his gargantuan collection of vintage Marshall amps and cabinets, including no fewer than three 8x10 cabs, and one “holy-grail” JTM-45.

Sadly, there’s not always room in the van (or trailer, or bus) for multiple Marshall full-stacks, so Taka counts on his Speaker Cranker overdrive to nail those cranked vintage amp tones on rented backline equipment. “When you play gigs . . . whenever I step on that pedal with any amp, it shines,” he says. “You step on it [and] it makes your sound so much better.”

A vintage wah fanatic, Taka’s latest obsession is the Spatial Delivery envelope filter, which he uses to coax expressive, touch-sensitive psychedelic blues sounds from his cigar box slide guitar. “People that know me, they think it’s really funny that I’m in a hip-hop band, but I originally love old-timey blues, rock, and folk music,” he says.

Before we go, Taka dials in an ambient soundscape with help from the Afterneath, Dispatch Master, Park Fuzz, and Spatial Delivery to play us out. “I’m not saying this just because you guys are friends, it’s just the tone’s there. It’s always there,” says Taka.