A hot-rodded Melody Maker, a pair of Deluxe Reverbs, and a custom-built ’board power this funk funhouse.
Ryan Lerman is the cofounder of Los Angeles-based dynamic funk project Scary Pockets. The musical collective has been crushing it on Youtube since 2017, and eventually they decided to take their show on the road—a shift that’s turned them into a celebrated and successful touring act. Lerman met up with PG’s John Bohlinger before Scary Pockets’ Nashville show at the Brooklyn Bowl to talk through his current touring rig.
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Making Melodies
Beatlemania—With Fuzz
In the Lap of De-luxury
On this leg of the tour, Lerman is rolling with backline amps—generally two Fender ’68 Custom Deluxe Reverbs.
Funk on the Floor
For his stompbox kingdom, Lerman tapped Dave Phillips at L.A. Sound Design to build him a road-ready board. First up, Lerman runs a 1/4" cable from his guitar right into a 29 Pedals Euna. From there, the signal runs the gauntlet through: an Electro-Harmonix Superego, WMD Geiger Counter, Rainger FX Reverb-X, Ross Compressor, Klon Centaur, JHS SuperBolt, JAM Pedals WaterFall, Non-Human Audio Slow Loris, Eventide H9, Strymon Flint, Empress Superdelay, Sonic Research Turbo Tuner ST-300, Fairfield Circuitry Shallow Water, Mooer Slow Engine, Surfy Industries SurfyVibe, and a Lehle volume pedal.
Shop Ryan Lerman's Rig
Fender '68 Custom Deluxe Reverb
Electro-Harmonix Superego
Eventide H9
Lehle Mono Volume
Ross Compressor
Strymon Flint
Did you know that, with careful tweaking, an EQ can be among the most useful and drastic tone-altering pedals on your board? Here are 10 to check out.
From precise tone shaping to boosting particular frequencies, or recapturing frequencies sucked dry by your go-to drive pedal, there are myriad reasons for housing an EQ on your ’board. We’ve rounded up 10 solid options for you to peruse and consider making your new favorite friend in your signal chain.
BOSS
EQ-200This pedal offers two 10-band EQ channels with a graphic display, multi-function switches, and onboard memories which allow a player to store multiple setups for instant recall.
$249 street
boss.info
MXR
M108SFeaturing 10 EQ sliders with carefully selected frequencies and a +/- 12 dB boost/cut range, this sound-optimizing pedal can also be used as a tweakable boost pedal, with its volume and gain sliders.
$129 street
jimdunlop.com
WHIRLWIND
Perfect 10Featuring a circuit design created by industry legend Tony Gambacurta, this 10-band constant-Q equalizer lets players target specific frequency ranges with surgical precision.
$238 street
whirlwindusa.com
BEHRINGER
EQ700This value-rich EQ provides sound shaping and feedback elimination through its seven bands of equalization, with a wide frequency range and a powerful 15 dB boost/cut per band.
$28 street
behringer.com
MESA BOOGIE
Boogie Five-Band Graphic EQLong a lauded component in Mesa’s amplifiers, this powerful tone-shaping 5-band EQ is now in a handcrafted pedal formant to help capture the company’s classic sound, and much more.
$279 street
mesaboogie.com
SOURCE AUDIO
EQ2 Programmable EqualizerThis combination graphic and parametric EQ features 10 fully adjustable frequency bands, stereo ins and outs, MIDI in and thru jacks, presets galore, and even an integrated tuner.
$269 street
sourceaudio.net
EMPRESS EFFECTS
ParaEQThree bands of parametric EQ, each with three selectable Q widths, provide for very flexible sound shaping. Designed to be ultra-transparent and noise-free, the pedal’s boost section offers 30 dB of clean boost.
$249 street
empresseffects.com
J. ROCKETT AUDIO DESIGNS
I.Q. CompressorThis EQ/compressor features a 6-band graphic, pre-compression EQ—each with 18 dB cut or boost—which allows you to choose which frequencies you want compressed harder based on their respective gain setting.
$229 street
rockettpedals.com
TECH 21
Q\StripDesigned to emulate the EQ sections of the iconic recording consoles from the ’60s and ’70s, this DI-format pedal features four bands of EQ, two parametric mid bands, and high and low shelving filters.
$249 street
tech21nyc.com
OLD BLOOD NOISE ENDEAVORS
3-Band EQ + BufferThis simple 3-band EQ also serves as an always-on buffer, while the switchable EQ is beneficial for tailoring specific parts, guitar switches, or using as an always-on EQ.
$109 street
oldbloodnoise.com
Swooshing Pink Floyd vibes, kerranging Sleep chugs, and mutating mellow Motorpsycho tones symbiotically swirl in this guitar duo’s growing setups.
Facing a mandatory shelter-in ordinance to limit the spread of COVID-19, PG enacted a hybrid approach to filming and producing Rig Rundowns. This is the second video in that format, and we stand behind the final product.
Since its inception with their self-titled debut in 2008, the band never succumbed to a singular sound. Pushing forward is their only direction. While Elder’s early work (including their second album, Dead Roots Stirring, released in 2011) was akin to a relentless “Iron” Mike Tyson with overpowering attack and devastating delivery, they still allowed for dynamic shifts and sonic sabbaticals during calmer passages heard in “III” and the end of “Hexe.”
And if Dead Roots Stirring was Tyson KO’ing people in 30 seconds, 2015’s Lore saw Elder becoming a cerebral, manipulative, rope-a-dope Muhammad Ali from the Rumble in the Jungle. They graduated beyond worshipping the intimidating, hypnotic riff and explored the outer realms of stoner metal by including psychedelia from Colour Haze, jazzy progressions from Motorpsycho, and moodier, atmospheric Bo Hansson-y layers with mellotron, keyboards, and cleaner guitar tones.
Melody, space, and as an inverse result, power continued to blossom in 2017’s Reflections of a Floating World. In any given song or moment of an album, those rooted pillars complementarily pull the band in various directions, but cohesively, it still moves them forward. To foster that perpetual growth, you need to put yourself in unusual scenarios.
2019’s The Gold & Silver Sessions did just that by removing lyrics and putting the quartet in an experimental scenario focused heavily on organic jamming. Possibly indirectly, the exercise unlocked avenues echoed and embellished (with precise polish) that are felt throughout the just-released Omens. Allowing other instruments to lead and flourish (keyboards in “Embers” and synths in “Halcyon”) help avoid the guitar fatigue when the shortest song is over nine minutes.
Each album and collection of music created by Elder advances their sound. Some fans argue they’ve departed from a genre they helped define. Others have enjoyed the expansion of their spacey storytelling. Both opinions are debatable. The fact of the matter is we should withhold cemented judgement and rather enjoy the unraveling metamorphosis until all their patterns of the kaleidoscopic have been visualized.
In this episode, Elder guitarist Michael Risberg (left) and founding guitarist/singer Nick DiSalvo (right) interview each other about their live setups. Each configuration centers around a custom instrument, blaring British heads, and scores of stomps that will eventually support the band’s brand-new album, Omens. Later on in the video, bassist Jack Donovan runs us through his meat-and-potatoes, bass-battle station.