Premier Guitar features affiliate links to help support our content. We may earn a commission on any affiliated purchases.

Rig Rundown - Steven Wilson and Guthrie Govan

Premier Guitar is on location in Chicago, Illinois where Jason Shadrick catches up with Steven Wilson and Guthrie Govan. In this segment, the two discuss and demo their rigs.

Premier Guitar is on location in Chicago, Illinois where Jason Shadrick catches up with Steven Wilson and Guthrie Govan. In this segment, the two discuss and demo their rigs.



Guitars
Govan's main axe is a prototype Charvel with a basswood body and a maple top. It's outfitted with pickups made by Michael Frank-Braun. The neck is made of roasted birdseye maple with a pair of graphite truss rods that make it "hilariously stable."

For the Steven Wilson show, Govan also brings along a Fender Select Jazzmaster HH (the strap boasting his original McDonalds name tag), and a Vigier Excalibur fretless guitar. The Vigier is used on "Insurgentes" to imitate a bass koto.

Steven Wilson's main guitar is a PRS single cut in standard tuning. He also has a Custom 24 tuned to Drop-D. On the acoustic side of things he uses a Babicz tuned to standard and an Ovation in "Nashville" tuning.

Amps
Normally Govan is a fan of EL34-powered amps, but for his gigs with Wilson he has been using a 6L6-flavored Victory Howler. Designed by Martin Kidd, formerly of Cornford, the Howler is a prototype 100-watt head that is powered down to 50-watts.

Wilson plugs into a Bad Cat Lynx 50 head with matching cab. One important feature for Wilson is that both channels are simultaneously active, meaning he can blend in each channel through his TC Electronic G-System.

Pedals
Due to the amount of tones Govan needs to cover in Steven Wilson's band, he had to create an entirely new pedalboard. Designed by Daniel Steinhardt from TheGigRig.com, the system is based around their MIDI-14 switching system. Rather than assign each pedal a dedicated switch, Govan has 14 different combinations to cover the sounds needed for a particular show.

The main guts of Wilson's pedalboard is a TC Electronic G-System, which has patches programmed for each song of the setlist. Each loop in the G-System is tied into a pedal to allow Wilson to add effects on the fly. For controlling the G-System along with the amp, both are looped through his The Gig Rig MIDI-8 controller.

SWShopTheRigButton