Premier Guitar’s Perry Bean met with Carl Broemel when My Morning Jacket stopped in Nashville on their summer tour in support of their latest album, The Waterfall. Broemel gave us the goods on the tools of tone that covers everything from crying pedal steel to cranked Les Pauls and Duesenbergs.
Broemel’s No. 1 is his 1988 Gibson Les Paul Standard with an added Bigsby and Gibson P-94 in the neck. All of his Gibsons are strung up with D'Addario 115s.
This bruised goldtop Gibson Les Paul dates back to the early ’00s and features the original P-90 pickups.
This semi-hollow Dueseberg Starplayer TV was obtained right before the band started to work on Circuital. And all his Duesys are loaded with D’Addario Light Top/Heavy Bottoms EXL140s.
When Broemel wants a more “rocking version” of his Starplayer he reaches for this Duesenberg Caribou.
The firstDuesenberg that Broemel purchased was this Double Cat 12-string.
This stock ’67 Gibson SG Junior is kept in Eb standard.
When Broemel wants to get slippery, he plays his GFI Ultra pedal steel that he keeps in E9 tuning.
When he’s playing steel for MMJ, he opts to run the GFI through a blackface 1965 Fender Showman.
Broemel normally uses a Carr amplifier but while the Carr is in the shop, he’s switched to a ’70s-era Fender Princeton, which he runs into a Mesa/Boogie 2/12 cab with Warehouse Guitar Speakers 75-watt ceramic speakers.
Broemel combines the Princeton with an EL84-powered 3 Monkeys Grease Monkey that runs into a Carr 2x12 cab boasting vintage Jensen C12N speakers.
Broemel’s board is clean, stacked, and packed with goodies. The control center is a GigRig G2 switching system that lets him control a number of different settings and combinations depending on the song. His board also includes an Analog Man CompROSSor, TC Electronic PolyTune Mini, Hudson Electronics Stroll On, Spaceman Saturn V Harmonic Booster, Fulltone Full-Drive 2, Boss RV-5 Digital Reverb, Empress Tape Delay, SIB Mr. Echo, Electro-Harmonix POG2, Fulltone Supa-Trem, an Ernie Ball volume pedal, and a pair of Eventide H9s. (One H9 routes to a separate MIDI controller and the Boomerang Wholly Roller.)
For his pedal steel musings, Broemel’s board includes a Hilton Electronics volume pedal, Sarno Music Solutions Steel Guitar Black Box, MiniMoog MF Delay, an Eventide ModFactor, EarthQuaker Devices Dispatch Master, and a Durham Electronics Sex Drive. He controls all the effects via a Voodoo Lab Pedal Switcher.
Perry Bean cut his teeth touring and playing in punk rock and hardcore bands, before he got his start in film. He worked his way up from lowly production assistant to become a producer, art director, and most recently, a music video director nominated for ACM, CMT, and CMA awards. Being Premier Guitar's Chief Videographer was a perfect fit for him, combining his two favorite things—guitars and cameras. Perry doesn't have free time, but his massive dog Beef pays his rent by being Perry's intern.
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