Andy Timmons is currently on the Ultimate Guitar Experience tour with fellow 6-stringers Jennifer Batten and Uli John Roth. Before their soundcheck in Nashville at the Basement East, Timmons demonstrated how he gets studio-quality tones onstage.
Timmons still uses the first prototype AT100 that Ibanez built. He’s so attached to it, that he even knows it’s birthday (Valentine’s Day of 1994). The bridge pickup is a DiMarzio AT-1 and he uses DiMarzio Cruiser in the neck and bridge positions.
For a slightly different tone, Timmons goes with a 2008 Ibanez AT10RP prototype that features a rosewood fretboard. Each guitar is strung up with a set of .010–.046 D’Addario strings.
Although a total rocker, Timmons nails the fast country thing as well. When a tune like “Heading for the Ditch” shows up on the setlist he goes with his 2016 Ibanez Talman TM302M. Since the ’80s, Timmons has used Dunlop Tortex Jazz III 1.14 mm picks.
Timmons runs two Mesa/Boogie Lone Star heads (one is custom-fitted into a flight case). For a bit of tonal variation, one amp is equipped with EL34s and the other has 6L6s. The amps run into two Mesa/Boogie Rectifier 2x12 cabs with Celestion Vintage 30s for a stereo image.
Because Timmons travels so much, it’s important to have a durable pedalboard that covers all his tones but weighs less than 50 pounds—case included. Timmons is a total cable guy and his signal flow starts with a Dunlop Cry Baby Wah before heading into the centerpiece of his board, a GigRig G2 switching system. Included in the loops of the G2 are a Sonic Research Turbo Tuner ST-200, Dunlop Volume X, Strymon TimeLine, Carl Martin Andy Timmons Compressor Limiter, GNI Analog Stereo Dual Chorus, a beat-up Ibanez TS-808 Tube Screamer, MXR Phase 90, and a JHS AT (Andy Timmons) Signature Channel Drive. Tucked underneath the top row of pedals are a Wampler Velvet Fuzz, GNI Octa Fuzz, an Electro-Harmonix POG, a Keeley-modified Boss Blues Driver, and finally a modded JHS Angry Charlie.
John Bohlinger is a Nashville-based multi-instrumentalist best known for leading the band on NBC's Nashville Star, serving as music director for the CMT Awards and specials on PBS and GAC, and of course for his appearances in PG Rig Rundown, Review Demo, Axes & Artifacts, and What Bohlinger Plays videos.
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