In just seven years since meeting based on a recommendation, Eric Burton and Adrian Quesada formed the Black Pumas, released two albums, and have already been nominated for seven Grammys. However, this fruitful friendship was almost never developed.
Quesada was enrolled at the University of Texas but flunking out due to his dedication to guitar over textbooks. His parents gave him a proposition: Either stay home in Laredo, or return to Austin without a guitar in hand to focus on studying. He went with option B and headed back for school in Austin—or so his parents thought. Quesada took his remaining book money (about $200) and headed to Ray Hennig’s Heart of Texas, where he snagged a Squier Telecaster Thinline. His parents eventually figured out the switcheroo, but Quesada was determined and hasn’t looked back. (Side note: The family obviously sees and supports his musical talents, and attended Black Pumas’ Ryman show the night before the filming of this Rig Rundown.)
That matador move pulled off by Quesada allowed him to become a longtime fixture in the Austin music scene with bands Brownout, Ocote Soul Sound, Spanish Gold, Echocentrics, and Grupo Fantasma (with whom he played for over 15 years, earning a 2011 Grammy for Best Latin Rock or Alternative Album). He started to explore new ideas that didn’t fit the mold for Grupo, and needed someone to narrate his musical vistas. A friend recommended he link up with Austin newcomer Eric Burton, who traded his busking spot on the Santa Monica pier for the bright lights of Sixth Street. The duo met up, and as the results prove, the rest is history.
Before the Black Pumas’ second headlining show at the Ryman Auditorium in downtown Nashville, bandleader Adrian Quesada, bassist Brendan Bond, and band tech Bryan Wilkinson invited PG’s Chris Kies into the hallowed grounds for a chill conversation about their tonal tools. During our time with the Black Pumas, we learned about Quesada’s love for tremolo (he even included it as a secret weapon in a semi-hollow Jazzmaster), Bond’s fateful trip to the Wilco Loft in Chicago, and why a ’59 ES-125 is Wilkinson’s perfect pairing with Burton’s expressive and emotive voice.Brought to you by D'Addario:
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The Custom Shop Cracks the Code
Black Pumas’ 2019 self-titled debut was like a drug—it soothed, it hypnotized, it recalled the past, it burned slow, and it was an addictive listen. It helped the band tally four Grammy nominations. But in addition to all that attention, it caught the collective ear of the Fender Custom Shop squad, who wore it out for months—so much so, that the team built the above Telecaster. Their aim was to create a guitar that nailed Quesada’s tones on the album, and they surprised the Texan with it. He’s been in love ever since, and mentioned that he’s collaborated on two other Teles—having some input on specs and design—but neither sound as stellar as this one. This one-off Tele is a pairing of a ’60s-style T (sunburst finish with a maple fretboard, standard-sized headstock, small pickguard, and barrel knobs), and a ’72 Telecaster Custom (single-coil-and-humbucker pickup configuration). Since acquiring it, this Tele has been Quesada’s main guitar onstage. He puts D’Addario EXL125 XLs (.009 –.046) on all his guitars, and uses Dunlop Tortex picks with custom printed Black Pumas graphics.
Lucky Loaner
The guitar that Quesada used the most prior to Black Pumas was a Gibson ES-446 that marries a 335 with a Les Paul. He loved its woody core tone and its humbuckers’ ability to lasso fuzz in a musical way. He’s retired the steed to the sanctuary of the studio, but stills requires sinewy sounds, so he checked in with Gibson to borrow a 335. They didn’t have one available but gave him this 345, which has proven a dependable sidekick punching in for time onstage and in the studio. Quesada mentions that the Varitone switch is useful for the studio, but he leaves it in position one (bypass) for Black Pumas’ sets.
A Puma and Jaguar Walk Into the Ryman...
And they sell it out two nights in a row! This fresh feline is the result of another partnership between Quesada and the Fender Custom Shop. He wanted another thinline instrument, but already designed a Tele, so he gravitated to the popular offset body style. The alder body with a natural finish is a nod to his first Squier Tele. The pickups are a custom gold-foil (adorned with a coy puma hood) in the bridge and a covered ShawBucker. It features a Fender American Vintage Jazzmaster bridge and tremolo. A striking bound rosewood fretboard with block inlays sits atop a maple neck that is capped with a blacked-out headstock. The 4-bolt neck plate honors Quesada’s Electric Deluxe with the recording space’s logo.
The real magic in this cunning cat is where the Jazzmaster’s rhythm circuit is supposed to reside. In its place is a tremolo circuit because Quesada cooks his tone in that effect like it’s salt and pepper. In 2022, he confessed to PG, “I love everything with tremolo. I put tremolo on everything,” so we should’ve seen this coming. The rocker switch toggles the tremolo on and off, and the two rollers control speed and depth.You're My Boy, Blue!
Adrian adores Fender amps. His Austin-based recording studio is loaded with noteworthy models from the company’s golden years, yet he proudly tours with a Fender Limited Edition Electric Blue ’68 Custom Deluxe Reverb reissue. (It’s worth stating that a proper ’72 silver-panel Deluxe Reverb was in a road case.) The bright tolex covers an otherwise standard circuit, however the stock combo did have a Celestion Creamback in it. But when Quesada’s tech Bryan Wilkinson found and landed the score for his boss off Craigslist, it had been modded with an Electro Voice SRO Alnico 12" speaker. Adrian loved how it sounded, so it stayed in, and he’s been using the combo on tour ever since.
Adrian Quesada's Pedalboard
We’ve established that Quesada lays on some tremolo any time his guitar is plugged in, but another stompbox spice he rarely avoids is reverb. He does acknowledge that amp reverb, especially from Fender combos, is tasty, but having it in a pedal format allows fine-tuning from gig to gig and room to room. Doing the heavy lifting for both effects is the Strymon Flint. (Adrian mentions that he turned Alejandro and Estevan of Hermanos Gutiérrez onto this staple, found on both of their boards.)
The other stomp stalwart has been the Electro-Harmonix Holy Grail that provides a healthy dose of spring reverb. Both ’verbs are engaged for drippy songs like “Fire.” He has a pair of delays: a Line 6 Echo Park used for its tap tempo function, and a Catalinbread Echorec for longer, dreamier repeats. The Boss GE-7 Equalizer works to match the different outputs between his three main instruments. A Catalinbread Belle Epoch preamp/buffer pedal replaced an Xotic EP Booster because it has a second knob for preamp for more detailed contouring.
Any growl or sizzle Quesada needs for his Tele and Jazzmaster, the EarthQuaker Devices Park Fuzz handles it. The Fulltone Clyde Wah Deluxe has stepped in for a different filter sweeper because Adrian digs its full-sounding throw that stays warm from heel to toe. A Jam Pedals Ripple two-stage phaser gets used on a track from Chronicles of a Diamond, and a TC Electronic PolyTune2 Noir keeps his guitars in check.
His second board (bottom) bypasses the amp and was specifically built to play roughly with Quesada’s 345, recreating a guitar-into-console overdrive sound that gets pumped into the onstage monitors and PA. To capture that crackly goodness, he runs the 345 into a combination of pedals including a JHS 3 Series Delay, a JHS Crayon, and an Electro-Harmonix Nano POG. Utility boxes on here—Strymon Ojai, JHS Mini A/B, and TC Electronic PolyTune—handle switching, tuning, and power.
P for B
Black Pumas bassist Brendan Bond had the good fortune to hang out at the Wilco Loft in the Irving Park neighborhood of Chicago. He quickly bonded with an old P bass that preoccupied most of his time in the space. Up to that point, his fingers have mostly danced around newer basses, so the allure of vintage gear never tempted him. That all instantly changed (“It was like I was playing a different instrument,” he commented), and when he landed back in Austin, Texas, he took a car right to Austin Vintage Guitars, where he landed this 1974 Fender Precision bass. It’s been his main sweetheart ever since. He puts D’Addario ECB81 Chromes Flatwounds (.045 –.100) on it, and always plays with his fingers in Black Pumas.
Tube Time
Bond has toured with lightweight, class-D bass amps, but now given the opportunity that his own back doesn’t have to lug the gear, he’s bringing out the big guns in the shape of an all-tube, 6550-powered Fender Super Bassman that hits a matching Bassman 410 Neo cab.
Brendan Bond's Pedalboard
Three pedals get the job done for Bond: an Acme Audio Motown D.I. WB-3 Passive D.I., a JHS Colour Box, and a Boss TU-3 Chromatic Tuner.
A '59, But Not That '59
Black Pumas’ singer/guitarist Eric Burton started his career busking in Santa Monica. He’s always accompanied himself with an acoustic guitar, but as the Black Pumas formed and took off, he needed something louder, which pushed him into the hollowbody and semi-hollowbody realm. His main collaborator has been this 1959 ES-125 that is all original and still has its purring P-90. He uses it for the Pumas’ songs “Colors,” “Stay Gold,” “Fast Car,” and “Tomorrow.” Burton’s guitars take D’Addario NYXL1149 Nickel Wounds (.011 –.049).
Stealth Cat
For songs needing more gas and go, Burton will dance with this stock ES-335.
Regal Prince
This prototype was born from conversations with the Fender Custom Shop, who took inspiration from Eric’s connection with hollow and semi-hollow instruments. The Telecaster Thinline has a few special appointments, including a sparkle-purple finish offset with gold hardware and an anodized gold pickguard, conjuring thoughts of the president of Paisley Park. The other interesting bit is the hot P-90 in the neck position.
Mighty Mate
Burton plugs all his guitars into an off-the-shelf Fender ’65 Princeton Reverb.
Eric Burton's Pedalboard
Burton is the band’s lone wireless member. To accommodate his onstage prowling, tech Bryan Wilkinson uses a Radial JDI passive direct box that takes in the XLR from the audio subsnake wireless rackmount and routes it into the first pedal Boss TU-3 Chromatic Tuner. From there, Burton only has a couple pedals—a DigiTech Mosaic to mimic a 12-string for “OCT 33” and a JHS Colour Box for any required heat. A Strymon Ojai turns everything on.
Shop Black Pumas' Rig
Gibson ES-345
Fender ’68 Custom Deluxe Reverb
Strymon Flint
EHX Holy Grail
Catalinbread Echorec
Boss GE-7 Equalizer
Catalinbread Belle Epoch
EarthQuaker Devices Park Fuzz
Fulltone Clyde Deluxe Wah Pedal
JHS 3 Series Delay
JHS Crayon
Electro-Harmonix Nano POG
Strymon Ojai
JHS Mini A/B
TC Electronic PolyTune
TC Electronic PolyTune 3 Noir Mini Polyphonic Tuning Pedal
D’Addario EXL125 XLs (.009 –.046)
D’Addario ECB81 Chromes Flatwounds (.045 –.100)
Fender Super Bassman
Bassman 410 Neo Cab
Acme Audio Motown DI WB-3 Passive DI Box
JHS Colour Box
Boss TU-3
D’Addario NYXL1149 NYXLs (.011 –.049)
Gibson ES-335
Fender Telecaster Thinline
Fender ’65 Princeton Reverb
Radial JDI Passive Direct Box
DigiTech Mosaic
Stern, seen here performing at Union Transfer in Philadelphia in late 2023, recorded all of the guitars direct on The Comeback Kid.
Without one, she says, “[the music] would be like a textural thing behind me,” and while that may not be a bad thing, that’s not her vibe. Her influences include the Who and Talking Heads, noise and post-punk bands like U.S. Maple and Erase Errata, and math-rock group Hella, whose sounds inspire her to take a different approach. “I want to remind myself about all the rock songs that I grew up listening to, and the riff is really key on all those songs.”Stern’s new album, The Comeback Kid, is a smorgasbord of blazing gems that stay true to her riff-centric ideals, and cut to the chase with clever and assertive phrasing. In a way, it may even be a nod to the Minutemen, with every song clocking in between two and three minutes, as Stern eschews the standard verse/chorus formula in favor of erratic arrangements that take you on exciting, albeit compact, sonic journeys.
The Comeback Kid is quirky, angular, and unsettling, but delivered with a coy sense of humor. Many of the songs, like the opening track “Plain Speak,” as well as “The Natural” and “Oh Are They,” are built around fast, high-end, multilayered, tapped guitar figures. Then “Forward,” the fifth song on the record, interrupts the brightness for something more sinister, sounding like a strange synthesis of Houses of the Holy-era Zeppelin and Talking Heads,with a touch of flange. There’s also an odd-metered spaghetti Western cover of Ennio Morricone’s “Il Girotondo Della Note,” which gets increasingly eccentric before ending abruptly one minute and 19 seconds in. “At this point, weird time signatures are just baked into me,” Stern elaborates. “A song will almost never be in 4/4, but I am not really trying to make it that way. I just come up with a phrase—I can always tell it’s not in four, but I don’t know exactly what it is.”
“A song will almost never be in 4/4, but I am not really trying to make it that way.”
Stern recorded all of the guitars and vocals at home using Pro Tools, and she finds coming up with vocal parts to be the most difficult. “[It’s] the hardest part for me,” she says. “I am very comfortable putting together interesting guitar parts, and I work really hard on each tiny part. An eight-second part could take all day, developing it and the intricacy of what it is going to be. That’s why I end up layering so many vocal tracks, because it’s just so hard for me to figure out the right melody. That’s also part of why I yell so much; my screaming style is because melody is my biggest challenge.”
The Comeback Kid marks Marnie Stern’s return to her solo career since her last album in 2013, and features only guitars and drums.
The path of least resistance in producing the guitar parts, she explains, was to record all of them direct. “I live in Manhattan and the neighbors would go bonkers,” she says about the possibility of cranking an amp in her cramped New York apartment. Stern’s pedal of choice is the Tech 21 SansAmp GT-2 tube amplifier emulator. (She runs that pedal, along with a Boss Digital Delay, through a Fender Deluxe Reverb when performing live.) Overall, her approach is decidedly barebones. She’s a loyal Fender Jazzmaster user as well, though she does have two of those. “I just love the Jazzmaster,” she says. “I have an older one, and then the past bunch of years I’ve been playing this American Pro Series that Fender came out with a couple of years ago. But that’s basically it.” That simplicity also applies to the album’s instrumentation. Aside from vocals, The Comeback Kid features nothing but guitars and drums, the latter of which was added later.
“I thought all those other styles were going to be sunk in there, but I guess because they weren’t mine, it didn’t stick.”
Thanks to the enlisting of Arcade Fire’s drummer Jeremy Gara, the drum parts for the album were a piece of cake. Stern sent Gara the tracks and trusted him to do the rest. “I mean, Jeremy’s an amazing drummer,” she says. “Arcade Fire is an amazing band. He knows what he’s doing. I didn’t give him anything. Not a thing.” For having gotten into the music without any direction, Gara’s drumming fits in perfectly with Stern’s frenetic, unflinchingly exuberant energy.
Marnie Stern's Gear
In her songwriting, Stern leans into odd time signatures mixed with layered vocals and tapping, and of course, the riff.
Photo by Frank White
Guitars
- ’80s Fender Jazzmaster
- Fender American Professional Series Jazzmaster
Amps
- Fender Deluxe Reverb
Effects
- Tech 21 SansAmp GT2
- Boss DD-8 Digital Delay
Strings & Picks
- D’Addario .010s
- Fender Medium picks
Once it had all coalesced, The Comeback Kid became Stern’s first album after she’d taken a long break from her solo career, a period which included an eight-year stint as the guitarist in the 8G Band, the Fred Armisen-led house band for Late Night with Seth Meyers. The 8G Band is unusual in that, instead of a cast of studio heavyweights, Stern’s co-conspirators included musicians pulled from the indie-rock world, such as Seth Jabour and Syd Butler from the art-punk band Les Savy Fav, Eli Janney from Girls Against Boys, and Armisen, who played with the Chicago-area punk band Trenchmouth.
“In the beginning, we would have a different drummer each week,” Stern says. “The drummer from Primus would be on and we’d learn a Primus song, or the drummer from the Pixies would be on so we’d learn a Pixies song, or Chad Smith from the Red Hot Chili Peppers was on so we learned a Chili Peppers song, and on and on and on. It was a lot of different drummers and styles, and I think that helped a lot—jumping into a different band and learning the song. It was a very quick turnaround. Plus, we wrote eight songs a day. We could have notes on stage, and we had in-ear monitors to hear a playback of the song before the commercial break. I had just been in my one world [before joining], so it was a really great experience.”
“If a part is interesting, I’ll put it in, even if it’s not commercially going to further my career. I just like what I like.”
Stern’s main axe is a Fender Jazzmaster, which she’s seen playing here in a performance back in 2013.
Today, Stern reflects on her time with the 8G Band with a mixed perspective. “It was great to do it for those eight years, and then it was great not to. It’s just that that whole thing is about [Seth Meyers]. It’s great to do that world. But it’s also nice to do something for yourself a little bit.”
Despite taking a long hiatus from her solo career—not writing new material, recording, touring, or even playing her old songs—and then coming back chock full of new styles, situations, and collaborators, Stern sounds right at home. The Comeback Kid comes across as if she simply picked up where she left off.
“I guess other people learn properly, but that’s just how I’ve always done it.”
“For those eight years, I barely played anything of my own,” Stern shares, “and then when I sat down to write, I couldn’t believe how quickly it just came back. I thought all those other styles were going to be sunk in there, but I guess because they weren’t mine, it didn’t stick.” Although, all that time on TV did affect her attitude. “I grew a bit more technically, in terms of how to do certain things, but I came back to, ‘I don’t give a fuck.’ If a part is interesting, I’ll put it in, even if it’s not commercially going to further my career. I just like what I like.”
Before recording The Comeback Kid, Stern spent eight years playing with the 8G Band on Late Night with Seth Meyers.
Part of what Stern came back to is her idiosyncratic approach to two-handed tapping. “I need to keep the pick for the next part,” she says, “so I hold it in my hand and use my middle finger at the same time to tap. With my left hand, a lot of the time I’ll use my pointer and my ring finger, but not my pinky. Isn’t that strange how you just do something? I guess other people learn properly, but that’s just how I’ve always done it.”
Tapping is all over The Comeback Kid, as heard on the anthemic-sounding “Working Memory,” which also includes somewhat contrapuntal figures from the different layers of guitar (plus dissonant stabs and a provocative solo, too). It’s also on the almost manic “Nested,” that seems to mellow near the end where she employs a more textural usage of the technique. But, tapping isn’t the only thing she does. She’s also got a mean picking hand, which you can hear in action especially when she’s leaning into upper-register tremolo parts on the album’s second single, “Believing Is Seeing.”
Tone inspires her, too, although once you start talking about tapping and tone, somehow she finds a way to bring that back to the riff. “Of course tone inspires me,” she says, “and for tapping, distortion inspires me. But I am really into focusing on the riff and trying to get that as full as possible.”
YouTube It
Stern’s only taken to the stage again recently, but this video from 2013 shows her exercising her spectacular chops and knack for bright, energetic, and uplifting fronting and songwriting.
![Rig Rundown: Christone "Kingfish" Ingram [2024]](https://www.premierguitar.com/media-library/rig-rundown-christone-kingfish-ingram-2024.jpg?id=51044395&width=1245&height=700&quality=85&coordinates=0%2C0%2C0%2C0)
Christone "Kingfish" Ingram’s 2019 debut album, Kingfish, hit No. 1 on the Billboard blues album chart and remained on it for an astonishing 91 weeks. From then on, he’s been roaring around the world, bringing his mix of downhome Delta-informed blues and sophisticated turns incorporating funk licks, Hendrix fantasias, jazz runs, and inspired improvisation to club and festival audiences. Late last year, he was a guest performer at BMI’s Troubadour Awards presentation for fan Billy Gibbons. His second album, 662, named after his hometown’s area code, also topped the blues chart and won him a Grammy. For this Rig Rundown, at Nashville’s sold-out Brooklyn Bowl, he was on the run behind his third album, Live in London, which captures the fire and invention of his guitar work onstage. You’ll be hearing more from Kingfish, but right now, check out his live rig.
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Fit for a Kingfish
Christone Ingram’s signature Fender Kingfish Telecaster Deluxe comes in a finish called Mississippi night, the color, he explains, of the Delta evening sky. It’s got a roasted maple neck with a rosewood fretboard, two hot Custom Kingfish humbuckers in its alder body, a V-profile neck, a Tune-o-matic bridge, medium jumbo frets, and a 12” radius. There’s also a couple cool little filigrees (next), and he uses Ernie Ball Power Slinky .011 sets.
He's Got It Covered
Check out the cool Kingfish imprint on those humbuckers.
The King's Crown
Not your average 3-way switch! Bow to the Kingfish’s good taste.
His Main Used-To-Be
Ingram brought his old main axe on this tour. The LP-style was custom-built by Michael Chertoff and given to Kingfish when he was just 16 years old. He literally played the frets off of it. Now on a second set of frets, this guitar features a set neck, maple cap with a mahogany body, and Jalen humbuckers. It also wears Ernie Ball Power Slinky .011 sets. And his picks are Dunlop Jazz IIIs.
Dynamite Duo
When you’re stringing together one-nighters like run-on sentences, it’s important to have amps that are built to be punished. He switches between these two: a Fender Twin ‘65 Reissue and a Peavey Classic 50—the latter in honor of his Mississippi roots. The Peavey is usually a backup in case there’s an issue with the Twin, or can be used to guests who are invited to join Christone onstage.
Pedals for Pushin'
The signal starts with a Shure Wireless BLX4, which hits a Boss TU3w Tuner. From there, the route is a Dunlop Cry Baby Mini Wah, a Marshall Shredmaster, and a Boss DD3 Delay, all powered by Strymon. The pedals live on a Pedaltrain Nano board and were assembled by Barry O’Neal at XAct Tone Solutions.
