Lee Malia, guitarist for Bring Me the Horizon, goes for the classic death punch: drop-tuned Les Pauls plugged into a Marshall.
Premier Guitar’s Perry Bean met with Bring Me The Horizon guitarist Lee Malia and his tech, Dean Rowbotham of Bedford Guitars, before their March 3, 2014, gig at the War Memorial in Nashville. Lee explained the simple beauty of a low tuned Les Paul plugged into a very loud Marshall JCM 800.
Guitars
Lee is all about Gibson and Epiphone guitars with heavy strings (.080 on the bottom) and tuned down to C or sometimes Bb. On tour, Malia brings a well-stocked guitar vault that includes his signature Epiphone Les Paul Custom loaded with a P-94 in the neck, a Gibson Les Paul Traditional with Lace pickups, a Gibson Les Paul Supreme with Bare Knuckle pickups, and two vintage models: a 1982 Gibson Victory MVX and a 1979 Gibson The Paul. All guitars are retrofitted with bone nuts crafted by Dean Rowbotham and TonePro Bridges with either graphite or bone saddles.
Amps
Lee stays true to his British roots with two Marshall JCM800s. Both amps have been modded to accommodate Svetlana Winged C 6550C power amp tubes and Electro-Harmonix Gold Pin 12AX7 preamp tubes. The amps drive a duo of Marshall 1960A 4X12 cabinets.
Effects
Lee’s signal path runs from this guitar to a Shure UR4D+ Dual Wireless Receiver into a Bedford Audio Line Driver, a Bedford Audio JB1 Junction Box / Line Receiver and a Boss NS-2 Noise Suppressor. To keep his tone pure, Lee runs all effects through a Free The Tone ARC-03 Audio Controller.
Loop 1 – J Rockett Audio Designs Chicken Soup Overdrive
Loop 2 - Fulltone OCD overdrive
Loop 3 - Boss DD-20 Giga Delay
Loop 4 - Boss DD-7 Digital Delay with FS-5U tap delay footswitch
Loop 5 - Boss RV-5 Digital Reverb
Loop 6 - Electro Harmonix Cathedral Stereo Reverb
Loop 7 - Output to clean amp
Loop 8 - Output to dirty amp
Lee checks his tuning with a TC Electronic Polytune. The whole enchilada is powered by an MXR Custom Audio Electronics MC403 Power System.